


It's Arrested Development

by Camucia



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Ben Solo was basically Buster, Canon Typical Violence, Drug Use, F/M, I swear I started this a month before the Ron Howard announcement, Just like my marriage, Kylo thinks he's Michael but he's probably more of a G.O.B., Motherboy ABY 33, Rating will probably go up, Skywalker Family Drama, Slow Burn, The Skywalkers are Basically the Bluths, Two idiots with zero people skills fall in love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-15
Updated: 2017-11-23
Packaged: 2018-11-14 12:24:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11208021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Camucia/pseuds/Camucia
Summary: Bloodlines compliant. Kylo Ren and Ben Solo don’t have much in common anymore, other than a tendency to hoard, a dysfunctional family, and a hatred of being deceived. A blissful moment - and a harrowing statement - from Rey was all that it took to unravel the careful balance of lies that was the only thing keeping Kylo Ren from discovering the truth and changing everything.Armed with a new outlook and perspective on the life he’s led, Kylo Ren does what any normal person would do in his situation, and dives straight into a bottle. Needless to say, a certain Scavenger, already struggling with her training, is none too pleased with this development - especially since Kylo’s primary choice of recreational activity is spilling right into her head.Kylo realizes he needs to get his act together, and Rey is more than willing to help, since it means the hangovers-without-the-benefit-of-being-drunk will end. Cue the sobering-up-and-training montage, set to The Final Countdown, of course.“Now, the story of a wealthy family who lost everything, and the one son who had no choice but to keep them all together. It’s Arrested Development.”





	1. More Lies

 

> _Michael Bluth: “Tell me the truth, okay? ’Cause there’s been a lot of lying in this family.”_
> 
> _Lucille Bluth: “And a lot of love.”_
> 
> _Michael Bluth: “More lies.”_

_– Arrested Development, Season 1, Episode 22 - “Let ‘Em Eat Cake”_

 

 

**Chapter 1 - More Lies**

Ben Solo was never particularly strong-willed. It was part of why he was so easily destroyed.

So the moment Kylo Ren acknowledged that he was positively filled with apprehension regarding his own _sanity_ , he knew that something was fundamentally wrong.

Before, his head had been filled with the thoughts of two distinct voices (well, maybe three) - the tumultuous thoughts of Kylo Ren, and the encouraging presence of his Master (and somewhere else, a perpetually whining, lonely, _weak_ Ben Solo). This arrangement was fine. It worked. He had become more powerful with the Supreme Leader’s guidance, his constant companion since childhood, the only one who ever cared.

It was _fine_.

But ever since his encounter with… _her_ ; the girl, the thief, the Scavenger - the voice of his Master had gone quiet. No longer was there someone to guide him, help him see his path, and relish with him as the Dark side fueled him in his times of rage. Instead, in his absence, there were voices. And the voices _would not shut up_.

_Was that really how it happened?_

_What weren’t they telling me?_

_How could that be true?_

_He said I was the only one!_

At first, Kylo thought nothing of apparently being ignored by the Supreme Leader. Occasionally, he would find himself shielded from the connection to his Master, and Kylo had, in turn, managed to find a way to block himself from his master, hiding in his weakest moments. Neither of them had mentioned this arrangement aloud. In Kylo Ren’s personal experience, not talking about things was clearly always the optimal solution.

But in his most desperate hour, when he killed his - _Han Solo_ , he reached out for his Master, desperate for praise, acknowledgement, something, _anything_ more than the numbing horror that had paralyzed him.

There was only silence from the Supreme Leader. Kylo had reached in his agony that gave him no Dark power at all, pleading for someone to help reconcile and justify what he had just done, only to find his agony reflected in… _The Scavenger_.

Just thinking of her was thrilling. She was so… _new_ , she represented so much potential not just in her use of the Force, but to Kylo Ren himself. He had never felt...

Kylo shook his head, brought back to the present - sitting at his desk, in the office of his quarters, aboard the _Finalizer_. He had already thought about the Scavenger… _Rey_ \- far too long when he underwent bacta therapy. That was a problem to address later, when his head felt like it was on straight again. He had more immediate concerns to address.

Like why the dozens of voices in his head found it necessary to drag up pieces of painful memories that didn’t seem quite right, questioning everything - questions that just never occurred to him when the Supreme Leader was constantly with him, helping quiet his troubled mind (yet encouraging his outbreaks of rage). Too many disparate thoughts; he unclasped his mask and furtively rubbed his temples, hoping in vain that it would help the massive headache he could feel approaching.

 _What would a normal person do in this situation?_ His fingers hovered above his terminal, ready and primed to use the extranet to confirm a self-diagnosis of a minor bit of trauma-based psychosis, but he hesitated. His searches would be monitored, of course, and it wouldn’t be to his advantage if anyone in the First Order thought the leader of the Knights of Ren was questioning his own sanity, had voices in his head, and was on his way to find dewback-strength tranquilizers in order to have a moments’ peace.

Opening a drawer of his desk, Kylo Ren began to dig. While his personal quarters appeared austere and clean at a surface glance, every one of his neatly-closed drawers was absolutely jammed with a complete hodgepodge of _stuff_. Ben Solo had been a desperately nostalgic child, refusing to throw or give anything away. He particularly clung to anything his father would bring back from his travels- but that thought led down a particularly troublesome path with even more voices. Ironically, Kylo Ren found that he was unable to completely stamp out his inability to let go, even if it did somehow relate him to the weak boy, Ben Solo.

Coming up empty-handed in his initial search, Kylo proceeded to unhinge more drawers, dump more boxes, and generally turn his room inside out, seeking what he needed.

By the time the desired object surfaced - a pen, as well as real paper - an ankle-deep layer of junk had amassed, covering the majority of the floor and most of the surfaces in Kylo’s office. He sat in the epicenter of the ring of junk, and assessed the room.

Fretting, every-possession-must-be-kept-in-perfect-condition Ben Solo would have hated it.

Precise, you-could-cut-Kyber-crystals-with-this-part Hux would have hated it.

Omnipotent, I’m-so-superior-to-these-mere-mortals Supreme Leader Snoke would have hated it.

Kylo Ren, however, looked all around the clutter, and felt... calm. He practically _smiled_ amid the mess. _Something is very wrong with me,_ he thought blithely.

He swept a long arm out in front of him, clearing out a space on the floor to put down his paper - the desk was a lost cause. While archaic, he felt that he needed to write this, to have a physical, unalterable record of what was going on in his mind, and in his own handwriting. _Normal people make lists,_ he thought to himself. _This is fine._

With that in mind, he began his list.

**IMPORTANT THINGS THAT ARE TRUE:**

Already, this was proving to be difficult. Everything that immediately came to mind as a big, life-altering truth had a hundred caveats. So, loathe as he was to do it, he started with an easy one.

_I was born as Ben Solo._

While that was certainly true, seeing it on the page somewhat infuriated him. He needed to balance it out.

_Armitage Hux is an idiot._

That certainly felt better. There wasn’t a voice in his head that could disagree with a statement like that. But writing down what everyone already knew didn’t help him sort out his own problems.

_The Scavenger, Rey, bested me on Starkiller Base._

This was assuredly true, his face bore the evidence. Looking at the statement on the page, Kylo realized that by all rights, this truth should make him furious. Beaten by an untrained, starving, desert girl - with his grandfather’s own lightsaber, no less! It’s the sort of thing that would enrage the Kylo of not-too-long-ago, and probably result in a few ruined terminals. But the voice that used to encourage these bouts of untamed rage, push him further and further from rationality - that voice was gone. Still, though, he had his hurt, and decidedly male, ego to tend to. So he wrote an addendum.

_The Scavenger, Rey, bested me on Starkiller Base because I was physically and emotionally compromised, and she is beautiful._

Kylo really didn’t mean for those last four words to be committed to paper, but there they were, of his list of truths. It felt… right. When his grandfather’s lightsaber went to her, and she was bathed in its light… There were definitely emotions he wasn’t supposed to feel. He knew from the second he first looked into her mind, then felt her slight weight in his arms on Takodana that he couldn’t hurt her. He felt as though he’d already known her for years, so familiar was her mind to him. And he really tried not to harm her, never taking an aggressive lightsaber stance against her during their duel, and being as gentle as he could with his interrogation - leaving him wholly unprepared for the blissful moment where they were in each others’ heads, when she pulled a truth from him he wasn’t yet fully ready to hear aloud or comprehend.

_“You’re afraid that you’ll never be as strong as Darth Vader!”_

Well, now was as good a time as any to tackle that particular bantha in the room.

_My grandfather was Anakin Skywalker, who became Darth Vader._

He read it over again, and it was certainly true. But there was something uncertain. The voices in his head seemed agitated, but weren’t willing to say anything outright just yet. He tried another statement.

_My family lied to me about Darth Vader. The Supreme Leader was the only one who told me the truth from the beginning._

The voices _screamed_. Something was not right. Reading the statement over and over, he couldn’t fathom what it could be. The Supreme Leader was wise, he let a young Ben Solo know about his dark heritage as just a boy, and told him he was destined for greatness like his grandfather. His family **did** lie, they lied to the whole universe, and managed to keep it up for years. It was a well-documented scandal that happened not that long ago, he was with Luke at the time, and practically the last one to find out -

A sharp pang ripped through Kylo’s head, he felt immense pressure behind his eyes, and his breath came in short gasps. The truth and untruth were right there in his head, coexisting side by side for the first time in years - for the first time he was _allowed_ to remember.

His Master… The Supreme Leader… Snoke - **he** _lied_.

Hand trembling, Kylo slowly scratched a line through the second sentence of his last affirmation as fragments of memories slowly reorganized in his head, taking the form of a vision in the Force...

 

_He was with Luke when it happened, though he didn’t know what “it” was just yet. While his mother foolishly never trained her Force abilities much beyond simple communication, she was sensitive enough to project a horrible, precise feeling of anxiety across the galaxy that day, instantly picked up by both himself and Luke. They had been investigating an ancient Sith temple deep in the Outer Reaches, and had been out of communication for some time - but they immediately abandoned the temple and raced back to Luke’s Jedi academy, where they could set a clear line of contact. They’d only be in hyperspace for only a short time; it was fortunate that the far reaches of space was both where the academy was established and where there were plenty of ancient Sith ruins to explore._

_Wordless communication was common in the family, and Ben knew it the second he saw it - Luke was clearly in contact with Leia, using their unique bond as twins in the Force to effortlessly communicate across the galaxy. Ben **hated** when they’d do this when he was growing up, because he could always tell when they were talking about him - which was often. Like they were doing right now, as though he were a child._

_“Mother, I’m almost 24, I think I can handle whatever ‘the adults’ are talking about by now.” Ben said grumpily from the pilot’s chair, speaking aloud since he knew that his mother would be privy to Luke’s thoughts and reactions._

_And then - it was most peculiar. Luke looked over at him, and suddenly appeared years older. Luke’s weathered face was grave and trepidacious, far from the usual calm serenity that surrounded him. This only made Ben more anxious._

_“Is something wrong with Dad?”_

_“No, Ben, nothing’s wrong with your father.”_

_“Well, feel free to keep me out of you and Mother’s conversation like you always do, then. Believe me, I’m used to it.” Ben leaned back in the pilot’s chair, propping his feet on the console, doing a not-wholly convincing job of appearing not to care._

_By the time they arrived at the academy, Ben had gone through a thousand possible terrible scenarios. His friend in the Force had been oddly silent, though he often was around Luke._

_Lor san Tekka, one of the temple guards and an old family friend, stood right at the ramp as Ben and Luke exited, his face as grave as Luke’s, looking all the more gaunt in the dark of the night. Rain had clearly been coming down steadily for some time._

_“Master Skywalker, the students - they know.”_

_“What happened?”_

_“It was all over the extranet, and as soon as they found out, the infighting began. Ones who believe, ones who don’t, ones who think they’ve been mislead all along. They’ve at least reached some sort of compromise, and they’re willing to hear you out.”_

_Luke met Ben’s eyes. “I think it’s best if you wait on the ship, we’ll need to go see your mother.”_

_Ben was outraged. “You cannot possibly think I’m not going in with you. This clearly concerns me as much as it does you-”_

_“Ben, please -”_

_“No! This is ridiculous!” Ben shouted, the tendrils of fear in his mind becoming darker and stronger. “You can’t keep sheltering me from everything! First it was the Force, then lightsabers, now… whatever this is! I’m going to find out what’s happening, and hopefully resolve this peacefully!”_

_“Ben, no, wait!”_

_It was too late, Ben was already halfway to the meeting house, leaving the older men in his wake. Dread was settling deep in him; something was **very** wrong._

_Most of the students were gathered together, the youngest ones likely in bed. As Ben entered the room, it was silent, and all eyes were on him - some sad, but most looking as furious as he felt._

_One of the older students approached him. “I always knew there was something wrong with you, Solo. But to hide **this** from us-”_

_“Of course he didn’t tell us, would you?” another student defended, though halfheartedly._

_“I wouldn’t pretend I was a Jedi. I wouldn’t preach lies while hiding who I am.” with that statement, the first student reached into his robe and pulled out Ben’s lightsaber. His unfinished, secret project that no one was supposed to know about._

_“That belongs to me.” Ben said as calmly as he could. He hadn’t even tried to ignite the damn thing yet, he knew it was unstable._

_“Of course it does.” he replied with a sneer, though Ben could feel the fear behind the brash statement. “After all, you want to be just like your grandfather, don’t you?” With that, the students began arguing among themselves, slowly increasing in volume and intensity._

_Ben was completely thrown by what was just said. “What? Well of course I do! General Anakin Skywalker was a great Jedi and a great man - he’s the only reason we’re even here!” he had to shout to be heard over the din-_

_“SILENCE!” Lor San Tekka bellowed._

_He had arrived with Luke, who met Ben’s eyes, and immediately looked away._

_“There he is, the chief liar himself.”_  
_“How does it feel knowing that your very existence goes against everything you’ve ever taught us -”_  
_“Master Luke, why didn’t you tell us the truth?”_  
_“Do you know what that monster did to my family?”_  
_“‘Hero of the Rebellion,’ when he and General Organa have been lying to us all along-”_  
_“If she won the election, the Skywalker mission would be complete! They’ve probably had this planned for decades-”_  
_**“Vader’s son!”**_

_Everything after that last shout went unheard. Ben was vaguely aware of Tekka calling for order again, but he was lost in his own thoughts now, plagued by the absolute truth he felt in that statement, in the Force. Anakin Skywalker was Darth Vader. Darth Vader was Anakin Skywalker. Darth Vader, who tortured his mother and father. Darth Vader, who killed Obi-Wan Kenobi, for whom he was named. Darth Vader, who slaughtered an entire generation of Jedi in a night. Darth Vader, who Luke had bested and killed on the Death Star, along with the Emperor. Luke’s father. Leia’s father. His… grandfather._

_“Uncle - is - is this true?” while Ben already felt the truth, he needed to hear it. Needed the confirmation from the one who told stories of Anakin Skywalker the hero better than anyone. **Had Luke killed his own father?**_

_There was a long pause, and a palpable silence filled the room. Everyone was focused on the moment between an uncle and a nephew, two of the most powerful beings in the Force, two generations of Skywalkers._

_“Yes. It’s true. Your grandfather Anakin Skywalker was a great man, but Vader-”_

_“Why would you lie to me my entire life?” Ben interrupted, venom and anger in his voice._

_“It was to protect you, Ben. From the Dark side, from-” Luke gestured all around him “- **this**. You were never supposed to find out this way.”_

_“You mean I was never supposed to find out at all! You were afraid - you and mother were **always** afraid of me, and what I could become-” Ben shouted._

“No…” Kylo whispered through the vision as new memories came in where there were only gaps before. His Master always told him that Ben Solo had witnessed the power of the Dark Side at the Sith temple with Luke, then betrayed Luke and slaughtered the Academy to prove his worth to Snoke. According to his master, he was so in tune with the Dark side at that moment that he ceased to remember who he was or what he did, and in that moment became Kylo Ren. After all, in this version of events that his Master fabricated, he always knew that Darth Vader was his family and legacy, and who he always aspired to be.

But that was a _**lie**._

_It was in this moment, lightyears away, that Snoke made his move. For 24 years, he had been patient. From the moment Ben Solo came into being, the Force had surrounded him, giving him power even as an infant - power that Snoke needed. He had never been much more than a whisper, a friendly, encouraging being in the force who was always there for Ben, stability in a life that was decidedly without order as a young boy was carted from planet to planet, caretaker to caretaker. He watched and listened to nearly every moment of this boy’s life, placing doubt and distrust at exactly the right times to make sure the boy stayed isolated, had only the most strained connections with his peers, ever shaping into a more perfect vessel. Snoke guided him in secret, making sure that the Dark would come to young Ben Solo so easily when the time was right. Snoke knew precisely where to go in order to rearrange his mind and memories to his needs and liking. Now it was the time to claim his prize._

_Ben’s body shook, slumping forward, then snapped straight up, his head lolling slightly._

_**“You were a fool to lie to the boy, Skywalker.”** Ben’s eyes had rolled to the back of his head, and lips moved, but the voice that came from him was not his own. He held himself unnaturally, his head continuing to tip over, straining his long neck. **“He has always detested dishonesty more than anything, and to find that you - his ‘hero,’ his family, - have been lying to him all along? Your folly has assured my victory.”**_

_Ben’s hand reached out, summoning his makeshift lightsaber, with its crystal he had found in secret so long ago, bled out the way his friend had told him, assuring him that this was how all lightsabers were made. Though Ben never quite had the heart to make this physical part of the Force suffer the way his friend insisted was necessary, resulting in a cracked crystal that made construction difficult._

_**“Witness the pinnacle of your failure, Luke Skywalker!”** _

Kylo wanted this vision to stop more than anything. He knew intimately what happened next; the scenes were among some of Snoke’s favorites to make Kylo watch over and over, praising how strong he was in the Dark in those moments. The lightsaber would ignite, there would be an explosive wave in the force that knocked everyone in the room to their backs, and Ben Solo would make his first kill, slashing through the closest student he could reach.

_“Ben! Stop! This isn’t you!” Lor San Tekka pleaded, struggling to his feet. His hand was already on a blaster as Ben cut down another student._

_“No. It isn’t Ben.” Suddenly, the red lightsaber was frozen in space, inches from gutting a third student. Luke, with no small amount of effort, had managed to completely freeze him. “Tell me, who are you, and how long have you been in Ben’s mind?”_

_**“Ben? Ben Solo was a weak, foolish boy who knew greater and wiser power when he met it. You will call this one Kylo Ren, the name given to him by his true Master.”** _

_“And who might that master be? Exar Kun? Bane? Plagueis?” Luke was slowly reaching for his own lightsaber._

_Ben - Kylo’s face contorted in fury. **“You dare accuse me of being a failed Sith? You will call me the Supreme Leader, for it is my rightful title!”**_

_Luke’s eyes widened. “Snoke…”_

_Taking advantage of the moment of weakness, Kylo broke free of the hold and slashed at Luke, slicing the lightsaber in half and ripping deep into Luke’s torso. Lor San Tekka fired a shot directly at his head, which Kylo froze midair, reaching a fist toward Tekka to send him to the ground, choking. Even the students who were scrambling to flee the building were stunned by the previously unthinkable feat of simply holding a blaster bolt in space - stunned until the twisted visage of their former classmate and advisor turned to face them._

_Please, no more…_ Kylo begged the vision. He was practically seeing it for the first time all over again, this time without the numbing filter of the Supreme Leader gloating and praising Kylo’s power.

_He didn’t give the students merciful, quick deaths by lightsaber. He used the force to **annihilate** them, crushing their bones, tearing until they bled, slamming them across the room._

_Soon, all of the students in the building were slain, though quite a few had managed to flee. Kylo stalked out the door after them, mindlessly cutting down two younglings who were frozen in fear, hiding just outside the door. He looked back to make sure he wasn’t being tailed, but instead saw the decimated corpses of the children._

_Something broke just then, seeing their bodies. Ben Solo surfaced just long enough to realize what happened, and **screamed**._

_He threw the lightsaber away from himself, his entire body shaking as he fell to his knees. “What - what’s happening to me?”_

_His head drooped, and an enthralled voice seemed to come deep from within him. **“You’re feeling true power, my child. Feel the anguish, the rage, the sorrow, the hatred - use it! You’re more powerful than you’ve ever been!”**_

_“This - this isn’t power! Killing children - I didn’t even - you-”_

_**“No, it was you. You’ve always hated other people who could use the force, it meant you weren’t special.”** _

_Briefly, a thought occurred as Ben fought to regain control -  
“That’s not true, I’m a teacher-” but suddenly Ben choked, and it became true, and always had been. The statement was crushed in a painful stab through his thoughts and memories._

_**“You’ve always wanted to kill Luke Skywalker, he lied to you about your true heritage.”** Another thought rose up in Luke’s defense, and was summarily wiped out._

_**“You’ve always craved power, and know that only I, your Master, can give it to you!”**  
“No! You’re wrong!”_

_“Ben!”_

_Luke Skywalker approached, and with him a calm Light of the Force. Ben Solo felt himself regain control of his own body, but he could tell it was tenuous._

_“Master Skywalker, Uncle Luke, please, I - I don’t… I can’t hold him off!” Ben cried, his entire body feeling as though it was on fire as Snoke fought to control him once more._

_Luke kneeled in front of him. His calm, forgiving face was more than Ben could take. “I know, Ben. Why didn’t you tell me?”_

_Ben let out a hysteric sob, almost smiling at the absurdity of the situation. “We seem to have a communication problem in this family.”_

_Placing his hand on Ben’s head, Luke’s light helped him through the pain. “He’s gotten in deep, Ben. He’s been working toward this as long as you’ve been alive. This is beyond my ability to help you, and I’m not sure how much longer we have.”_

_“You have to kill me. I-I can’t live with it, he’s too powerful, I know what he can do-”_

_“No, Ben, there’s another way.” Luke held Ben’s face, forcing him to meet his eyes, to see the truth of what he was about to say. “Darth Vader may have been your grandfather, but he became Anakin Skywalker once again at the end. For years, we told you I was the one to kill the Emperor and Vader - but the fact is, I did neither. Vader - Anakin’s love for his family won out over his loyalty to Palpatine, to the Dark. He killed the Emperor to save me, and your mother. And he wouldn’t have been able to end the Emperor without his ability to master the Dark Side.”_

_“Uncle, what are you saying?”_

_“You know what I’m saying, Ben. I know of Snoke, he’s ancient and wise, with power well beyond either of us right now - and he’d be next to impossible to find, much less eliminate. And that power is only going to grow, unless we take steps to stop it now. You may be in an ideal position, and I believe you have the strength to one day overcome him.”_

_“Do you see what he’s already done? What he’s made me do? Why can’t you just kill me and end this?”_

_“Ben, I couldn’t kill you even when you were trying very hard to do the same to me - what makes you think I could kill my nephew as he sits in front of me, needing my help?” Luke sighed, placing both his hands on Ben’s shoulders. “I’m relying on you, Ben. As long as Snoke is alive, I can’t help you, he is bound to you in the Force, and we could never assure that you’d be completely free of him. However... I believe you have the strength, Ben. I believe you can be as strong as Anakin - as strong as Darth Vader - and rise up to overtake Snoke.”_

_“But Luke... How?” Ben was desperate, but this seemed so impossible - and his life literally depended on it._

_“I know you’ll find a way, like Vader did. You’ll get stronger, you’ll break free of Snoke, and you’ll remember. Let’s just hope it doesn’t take 20 years.” Luke smiled without humor. “Now, I know you’ve already had your share of visitors in your head, but we’re running out of time, and I think you’ll need just one more-”_

_With that, Luke brushed his hand down his nephew’s cheek, until he saw Ben’s face contort with the rage of Kylo Ren. Luke had to make it believable, wiping out any struggle Ben showed against Snoke, and instilling him with a hatred of Luke Skywalker to cover his tracks._

_**“Skywalker!”** spat Kylo Ren. “ **Your simple tricks are laughable, and you’ll easily be crushed. The last Jedi Knight is truly pathetic.”**_

_“You won’t see me again, Ben Solo. Not anytime soon, I hope. Remember your training.” with a casual wave of Luke’s hand, Kylo Ren was once again paralyzed as Luke returned to help the survivors, filled with the crushing weight of guilt over failing to protect his nephew, and the massive task he had left him._

_**What was he going to tell Leia?** _

Finally brought out of the vision, Kylo Ren drew a rattling gasp, desperate to breathe. It all made sense. The truth of that pivotal statement, the one that broke him free of Snoke’s grasp - everything was clear now. Rey the Scavenger was his savior and his Light - but most importantly, the bringer of the truth he needed to hear.

With a confident hand and a clear mind, he returned to his list.

  
_I’m afraid I’ll never be as strong as Darth Vader **because I don’t think I can kill Supreme Leader Snoke.**_

 

 

Next time, on Arrested Development:

 

> _Narrator: Oscar, meanwhile, checked in on Buster._  
>    
>  _[Buster has rested a hot iron on his artificial hand]_
> 
> _Oscar Bluth: [Gasps] Buster! Buster! Be careful!_  
>  __  
> Buster Bluth: It's not a real hand, remember? - I'm so forgetful.  
>    
>  _Oscar Bluth: I hope you don't get that from me._  
>  __  
> Buster Bluth: Get that from you? Do you feel okay?  
>    
>  _[Buster swings his burning artificial hand into Oscar’s face]_  
>  _[Sizzling]_  
>    
>  _[Oscar screams] Oscar Bluth: Just forget it! I wanted to share my Pop Secret with you. Oh, but forget it!_  
>  __  
> Buster Bluth: Pop secret? Pop se- Is Oscar my real father?  
>    
>  [“Father” lemotif plays]

_– Arrested Development, Seaso_ _n 2, Episode 18 - “Righteous Brothers”_

A/N: The rest of this fanfic will be a quite a bit less heavy, quite a bit more ridiculous, and the Arrested Development jokes that pretty much only me, my husband, and our friend will get are going to be plentiful. And yes, the chapters will be long, though maybe I'll break them down with "commercial breaks" to make them a bit more frequent. 


	2. A Hangover-Related Headache

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously, that Ron Howard announcement, though. That was a week after the first chapter got posted, which I had been working on for several weeks at that point... I'm not saying that this fanfic is some Stranger than Fiction-style weirdness where what I write loosely happens in canon, but I'm not denying it, either.

 

 

> _Narrator: As it turns out, she HAD gotten up early and had taken pain medication because of a hangover-related headache. However, she mistook the "drowsy eye" alcohol warning for a "winking eye" alcohol suggestion._  
> 
> _–  Arrested Development,_ _Season 2, Episode 17, “Spring Breakout”_

 

**Chapter 2 - A Hangover-Related Headache**

The first time may have been a misconception - a brief, weird, but painful lapse that could be ignored. The second time, it could have been a coincidence, albeit a longer one. But by the third time in as many days that Rey felt a sudden void as the Force was ripped from her mind, leaving her powerless and aching, she knew that something was definitely wrong.

Since she had arrived on Ach-To nearly two months ago, her routine had been virtually unchanged day-to-day. Wake up, eat, study with Master Luke, meditate, forage, try to convince Master Luke she was ready for more intense training over dinner, meditate, sleep. Her routine was as immutable as Master Luke’s insistence that Rey wasn't ready for more than the most basic of meditation techniques.

Rey was patient. She would have never survived Jakku if she didn't have the ability to wait - she had 15 years of experience doing _that_. Master Luke wasn't outright rejecting to train her, she had a roof over her head and food in her stomach every day, no one was trying to kill her or steal from her, and, though their conversations were brief and somewhat stilted, in two months, Rey had officially spent longer in Master Luke’s presence than… Well, _anyone’s_. That she could remember, at least. From Rey of Jakku’s perspective, she was doing pretty fantastically.

And yet, in the time right before she had come here, Rey had discovered there was so much _more_. More to friendships, the universe, the Force… Without the daily struggle of simply staying alive to distract her, Rey found herself - _bored?_ No, that wasn't the right word. _Restless?_ That felt closer. Ach-To was no doubt beautiful, unlike anything she'd ever seen but in her dreams, and it positively _vibrated_ with the Force, but Rey couldn't help but feel that she was missing something.

So, as terrifying as these sudden holes left in her mind and in the Force were, Rey found herself intrigued and excited - after all, they never lasted terribly long (though each one seemed longer than the last), it’s not like she was being particularly challenged with Master Luke’s Force training (in fact, she’d wager Master Luke wouldn’t even notice if she didn’t have the Force at _all_ ), and she couldn’t help but feel it must mean she was connected to something bigger than herself (like she always hoped). It was definitely something new to meditate on, whatever good that would do. She certainly wouldn't be telling Luke about this, it was the sort of thing that would cause Luke to lose faith in her, and he’d most assuredly abandon her and her training. Besides, there were already several small details that Rey had omitted during their discussions of the Force.

Tiny details.

Practically negligible.

Leia had begged Rey to avoid bringing up Ben - Kylo - her _son_ , to Luke. The General had been convinced that Luke would go from reluctantly training Rey to outright refusing if he was aware of what had transpired between Rey and… that man. While this felt dishonest to Rey, she wholeheartedly agreed, not wanting to give Luke any sort of excuse to leave her, as so many had in the past. She welcomed the opportunity to avoid addressing that particular part of her, him, and the Force.

 

Rey suddenly felt it start - the very edge of what she could now recognize was the Force about to drop away from her. It was a sort of desperate, grasping sensation that didn’t quite make sense, but she had felt it every single time.  Fortunately, it was time for her evening meditation anyway, so she was prepared to focus and pinpoint what exactly was going on here.

Closing her eyes, Rey focused on reaching out as far in the Force as she could before it left her. She could feel Master Luke’s presence, all of the little lifeforms of Ach-To - but she knew this issue must have been much further away. Straining, she pushed her mind as far as she could, trying to find the source of this shaking, desperate feeling that she knew would soon lead to the Force temporarily leaving her.

_There!_

It wasn’t a like a prophetic vision, but suddenly, she could see glimpses as though through another’s eyes. She didn’t recognize the pale, thin hands before her, but something about them seemed familiar. They pawed through a cluttered drawer, trembling, desperately seeking something. Finally, a length of tattered rope was untangled from the drawer’s contents with shaking hands that seemed to have difficulty even grasping. The hands continued to rummage, pulling out several small bags and some vials.

Rey was puzzled. This wasn’t at all like when she had touched the lightsaber on Takodana, with the feeling of seeing the past and a thousand possible futures. This was practically pedestrian, almost _normal._  There was a very real immediacy to the events unfolding in front of her eyes - this was something that was actually happening to someone, somewhere, right now.

When the eyes suddenly looked up into what was apparently a cracked, dingy mirror in front of a set of battered drawers, Rey practically shouted at the eyes that seemed to meet hers.

_It was him!_

Rey almost screamed herself out of meditation, snapping back to Ach-To wide-eyed and sweating. She covered her mouth to quiet her gasps, hoping that Master Luke hadn’t detected any of this. This wasn’t what she meant to do at all. She had made a huge mistake. She should go tell Master Luke right away, but then maybe he’d make her leave, or maybe he’d leave her-

**_Don’t go to Luke._ **

Rey nearly screamed again as the words forcefully projected into her head in a voice she hadn’t heard in months, but would never forget. What did he mean, ‘don’t go to Luke?’ Was this part of his plan? Was he trying to make sure she couldn’t get the help she clearly needed-

**_He won’t understand. Now leave me alone, I’m trying to make this easier for both of us._ **

It seemed like Kylo Ren was able to read her mind right now. This could not be a good sign.

**_Of course it’s not good, you’re practically broadcasting your thoughts across the universe. It’s a wonder Luke hasn’t picked up on this. Then again, he was always willing to ignore the obvious._ **

Feeling panic rising in her, Rey tried to… She didn’t know what to do! Rey was many things, but level-headed in a situation beyond her control was not one of them. She wasn’t meditating anymore, yet clearly Kylo Ren was able to pick up on every nuance of her thoughts-

**_If you’re not going to shut up, I guess I’ll help. Hold on._ **

Without warning, Rey’s eyes drifted shut and her body slouched forward, seemingly asleep.

 

When she opened her eyes, Kylo Ren was crouched right in front of her.

“Please don’t scream again, I’ve heard enough out of you today as it is.”

Rey stifled her surprised yelp for the second time that day. Kylo stood, walking over to a rather unstable-looking wood chair, which he proceeded to drag across the floor, making a horrible screech that caused Rey to wince. Rey was seated on the ground much like had been in meditation, and she felt considerably vulnerable in this… Wherever she was. Kylo offered his hand to Rey, who looked at it as though it were covered in dripping fungus. He shrugged, then gestured toward the chair, which Rey scrambled to sit in, not quite sure what to make of this situation.

They were in a rather pathetic-looking apartment, which didn’t have much other than a bed, a set of drawers, a small desk, a sink, and the chair that Rey now occupied. There seemed to be a haze over the room, though whether that was because of the apparent filth of the place, or if this was something all in Rey’s head, was a mystery.

Kylo sat heavily on the bed, slouching to prop his elbows on his knees as he stared up at Rey, who backed up ramrod-straight in her creaky, protesting chair. He looked exhausted, and somehow thinner than when Rey had last seen him. A previously clean-shaven face had a scraggly beard, and his hair had gotten even longer. His scar had evidently been stitched up instead of put through bacta, healing to a neat slice across his cheek instead of the gaping slash that it had been.

“I’m sure you have some questions.”

Rey had about a thousand, most of them with a heap of accusations, but she decided with a safer, more pressing one.

“Where am I?”

“Technically, you’re still with my uncle on whatever forsaken planet he decided to hole up on, and you’ll be back there momentarily. All I’ve done is close off this conversation to just us, so you wouldn’t be announcing your presence to every Force-sensitive in the galaxy.”

“But where is _this_?” Rey gestured at the room around her, as well as Kylo himself.

“You’re not actually here, only I can see you, since I let you into my mind. This is a room I’m renting. I thought you picked up on that when you were spying on me.”

“ _Spying?_ I never-” Rey let out an indignant huff, crossing her arms. “All I was trying to do is figure out why the Force keeps… Shorting out randomly. I meditated and found _you_.”

Kylo’s eyes widened slightly, and one of his long fingered-hands went to his chin to pull on the scraggle of hair there. “ _What_.” he stated flatly.

“I wasn’t trying to find _you_ , I was just trying to find out why I keep having these… Episodes? It’s happened three times now that the Force just… Disappears! Not for long, though-”

“I’m sorry - three times?”

“Yes, and I think I’m able to tell when they’re about to happen now, so when I felt like it was about to, I just reached out…”

“And found me.” Kylo squeezed his eyes shut, pinching at the bridge of his nose. “Kriff.”

“I wasn’t _trying_ to! In fact, I’d very much like to forget any of this happened-” Rey was indignant. It’s not like she wanted anything to do with this monster!

“I’m afraid that’s not possible.” Kylo said from behind his fingers, having now buried all of them seemingly into his eyes. Rey could see that his hands were slightly shaking, and that his whole face seemed covered in a sheen of sweat. “I knew that this wasn’t going to last, but I had hoped…”

“Is it _you_? Have you been taking the Force from me?” Rey stood as she accused him. Of course it was him, she should have known…

“No! I’d never do that!” Kylo looked up at her, seemingly desperate to be understood. “In fact, I thought I was… Helping.” he finished lamely - but his words felt honest.

Rey sat back down slowly, filled with anger. “What did you think _taking the Force from me_ was going to _help?_ Why would you even care?”

“‘I wasn’t trying to take _anything_!” The lights in the room began to flicker, and several of the room’s smaller items began to shake.

“That’s rich, coming from you - I thought you could _take_ whatever you wanted!”

_“I was trying to cut myself off from the Force!”_

The room suddenly went dark, as the feeble lighting system finally gave way to the power of two Force users having an argument. Small rays of sunlight poking through a moth-bitten curtain gave just enough light for Rey to be able to see the haunted look on Kylo Ren’s face. His entire body was now practically trembling, and he kept clenching his fists.

“...Oh.” Rey replied softly.

“Look, I didn’t mean for this to affect you. I didn’t know it could. By all rights, it shouldn’t, or else every Force-sensitive in the galaxy would be hammering down my door like you just did. It’s simply my way of laying low right now. I’ll try to make sure this doesn’t happen in the future.”

“But… Why would you-”

“It doesn’t matter. I’ll try to be more careful, I’ll try something different next time. Please just don’t tell Luke, I swear I’m not trying to hurt you.”

Rey opened her mouth to retort, but felt the room start to fade away from her.

She tried to reach back, but it was as though a door was just closed in her face.

 

Gasping, she blinked awake back on Ach-To. She hadn’t moved, and apparently only a few minutes had passed - it wasn’t like the Force visions she had read about, which often distorted the way one perceives time. It was almost like her time there was… real.

Rey was frustrated. Kylo Ren was her enemy, she shouldn’t believe anything he says, or be concerned about him - but here she was, doing both. He seemed genuine when he said he didn’t mean to involve her in… whatever he was doing. Someone of his power and status, trying to cut himself off from the Force? And just what _was_ going on, exactly? He seemed to be assembling a rather conspicuous group of items…

Immediately, Rey realized what he was doing. She felt stupid for not recognizing the obvious signs, now so blatant in retrospect, but then again, reading people was never one of her strengths. He was mainlining spice, the way she’d seen some of the smugglers at Niima Outpost waste their lives away doing. So every time he used -

There it was, the void in the Force. It ate away and pulled at Rey, who was left feeling as though she was being blinded, whatever he “tried” to help apparently didn’t work. She wasn’t completely enveloped this time, as she strained to maintain her hold on the Force. Rey resumed her previous position, meditating once again. Reaching back out, it was much easier to find Kylo now, since she’d been there before, and his mental defenses were negligible for a mind that had just been in there seconds ago.

Rey opened her eyes, in the grungy apartment once again. Kylo was sitting in the chair she had previously occupied, methodically untying the rope from his arm, rubbing at his wrist. He seemed to be unaware of her presence.

“Hey!”

He didn’t respond, gathering his various bottles and dumping them back into a drawer.

“ _HEY!”_

Still, he didn’t respond. Rey could feel the void of the Force right there around him, trying to pull her away and cut her off, returning her to Ach-To. It was as though, in that moment, he didn’t exist in the Force at all.

“Kylo Ren, you will listen to me right now!” Rey reached out and grabbed his shoulder.

Kylo and Rey both gasped as she touched him. While the void in the Force no longer pulled at her, there was still a definite sense of _nothingness_ around Kylo.

“She fixed it.” Kylo slurred dumbly, staring at where Rey still grasped his shirt.

“I didn’t fix anything, it just happened on its own! Tell me why you’re doing this.” Rey relinquished her hold on his shirt as he stood and walked toward his bed.

“W-what are you doing?” Rey stuttered as Kylo pulled his shirt off, revealing a bare, muscled back crisscrossed in scars. He toed off his boots, and collapsed on the bed, utterly oblivious to Rey.

“Listen, I don’t know what’s going on, but-” Rey reached for his shoulder once again, but her hand seemingly went right through him. Startled, she reached again, her hand going through his body a second time. Kylo swatted lazily toward his shoulder, as though driving away a pesky fly. Rey looked toward her hand, only to notice that it was fading away into a blurry mist.

“W-wha-” was the last she managed to get out as she heard Kylo let out a snore.

 

A splitting headache greeted Rey back on Ach-To.

The void in the Force was gone, but she definitely felt greatly weakened. Perhaps it was because she extended herself too much by reaching out so far today, but these gaps in the Force had to somehow be connected to with Kylo Ren and his apparently new spice habit.

Frustrated, Rey pinched the bridge of her nose, much as she’d seen Kylo do earlier. She was exhausted, her head was killing her, and she was just left with more questions than she’d had before investigating this phenomena. Kylo Ren did have one good point - she wasn’t going to mention this to Luke. This had become her problem, and she was going to fix it.

But not without a good night’s sleep, first.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Rey didn’t know if she had been asleep for minutes or hours, but the peaceful oblivion of restful darkness was rudely interrupted.

“Rey! I haven’t seen you in ages! Though you’re looking a little shabby.”

Rey had been resting peacefully on the island of her sleeping mind. This island wasn’t like Ach-To, with its unpredictable weather, innavigable peaks, and rough rock beaches. Rey was laid out on soft sand, her arm covering her eyes from the warm, steady sunlight.

She felt the sand shift next to her as a figure sat down. No one _ever_ came to her island in her dreams, this was her peaceful place. When she slowly removed her arm from her eyes, her fears were confirmed.

Sitting next to her like he just _belonged_ was a grinning Kylo Ren. _Grinning?!_ It was terrifying.

“What’s wrong, Rey? I mean, this beach is nice and all, but why are you wearing that horrible sack of a tunic again? You usually dress better than that.”

_I don’t know what my subconscious is trying to tell me, but insulting my appearance is not the way to go about doing it._

“‘Subconscious?’ You’re seriously acting weird, Rey. This isn’t how this normally goes…” This was yet another distinctly off-putting thing - hearing Kylo Ren with a tinge of a whine about his voice.

“Go away, Kylo.” Rey stated as calmly as she could, covering her eyes with her arm again, hoping she’d just go back to sleep and forget all of this ever happened.

“...what did you just call me?”

Sighing, Rey glared back up at him again. “I thought I told you to _go away,_ **_Kylo Ren_ ** _._ ”

Now, she got a good look at the man seated next to her. This wasn’t the Kylo Ren she saw earlier, sallow and desperate for a hit of spice. And he didn’t even quite look like the Kylo Ren she first saw on the Finalizer, with his fathomless eyes and pale skin. This Kylo Ren looked…   _Healthy_ , for lack of a better word. His skin had taken on a tan, making his moles stand out far less. Instead of the tangle of hair Rey saw before, his hair hung in long, well-kept waves to his shoulders. Instead of the scraggly, drifter-like facial hair, he had a maintained-looking, short scruff that suited him. His eyes lacked the massive purple bags under them, and his whole disposition was much improved from the fact that he wore a simple grey tunic and pants instead of his typical Darth Wannabe ensemble.

In fact, if it weren’t for his voice and his obvious presence in the Force, Rey would have sworn this was a different man altogether - except for the long scar she had given him, splitting the side of his face, exactly how it looked in reality.

His face, which had previously held good humor and a familiar twinkle in his eyes, now looked stricken and confused. “Why - why would you call me that, Rey? What does that name even mean to you?”

Now it was Rey’s turn to look confused. “What does it _mean?_ It’s the name of the man who kidnapped me, slammed me into a tree, tried to kill my friend, and murdered his father! And now the name of a man who’s being a complete nuisance to me by sucking me into whatever bad habit he’s decided to take up now. What would you _expect_ me to call you?”

Kylo recoiled from her, looking horrified. “You… You always call me Ben when I’m dreaming, you’re not supposed to know-”

“Not supposed to know? How could I ever forget! You tried to kill me! You hauled me across the galaxy and into your mind just hours ago!” Rey was disgusted. “And why would I _ever_ call you _Ben?_ ”

Kylo opened and closed his mouth a few times, clearly at a loss for words, and looking utterly blindsided. “This… This isn’t a - it _is_ you. I've made a huge mistake.”

“Look, Kylo-”

“Oh, _Kylo_ isn't really here right now.” He interrupted with a sneer, clearly trying to compensate for his earlier vulnerability. “ _Kylo Ren_ is - how should I put this delicately? _High as a kriffing kite_ right now. Trust me, you don’t want to be dealing with that sort of human garbage right now.”

Rey visibly relaxed, nodding in understanding. “So you’re just part of my dream. This is my mind trying to rationalize why Kylo Ren would say he wasn’t trying to hurt me earlier.”

“Oh no, little girl, I’m afraid you’re mistaken - I’m real, and very much a part of that monster, but a part he likes to pretend doesn’t exist anymore. Once he sobers up, I go right back to being a voice in his head that he ignores - for the most part.” Allegedly-not-Kylo-Ren sniped.

Rey could feel the edges of a massive headache as she attempted to comprehend what was just said. “Well didn’t you just say it yourself? You’re a part of him, so you _are_ Kylo Ren-”

He cut her off, rolling his eyes dismissively. “I’m Kylo Ren as much as Anakin Skywalker was Darth Vader-”

Angered at the interruption, Rey cut him off right back - “Who were one and the same person!”

Not-Kylo-Ren laughed in a way that didn’t reach his eyes. “Why thank you, Rey of Jakku, for pointing out that you know something my family hid from me for 24 years. Thank you for bringing to my attention the deception that the Supreme Leader used to wind his web of lies around throughout my entire life, and what served as my breaking point into turning into _him_!”

Rey actually gasped, taken aback and genuinely stunned at this news. The viciousness with which he said that, the hatred and malice directed toward his precious Supreme Leader… If Kylo Ren had never known Darth Vader was Anakin Skywalker until the whole galaxy found out... “So that… That’s what did it. You didn’t know?”

“Of course not. My precious family, to whom you seem _weirdly_ attached, decided it was ‘ _in my best interest’_ to keep up _that_ particular lie well into my adulthood.” he dismissed, looking eager to divert attention from his outburst. “Seriously - what is with you and my family? You barely know my mother, and you somehow let her convince you to go halfway across the galaxy to find my uncle, and then there was that whole thing with my father-”

Rey blushed furiously. “I don’t have to put up with this _or_ justify myself to you! You’re the one who wandered into my dream, and who’s being so… So confrontational, so _rude,_ so you can either leave, or I’ll wake myself up!” Rey closed her eyes, and set about concentrating on doing just that - of course, normally when she realized she was dreaming, she woke up immediately, but -

“Surely you’ve realized this isn’t quite a dream?”

Rey resigned herself to her fate of never having control of anything in her mind, facing endless, exhausting arguments instead of the rest she desperately needed, and being forced to spend more time with this increasingly difficult man. “Then what is this? Why is this happening to _me?_ Why do I have to be in a front row seat to see Kylo Ren’s identity crisis?”

He winced. “Please, call me B-”

“No! You have no right to that name! I don’t _know_ that person, the person I’ve only heard stories about, the person whose family loves so much and would do anything to get back. I know _Kylo Ren_.”

Rey barely blinked, and suddenly, the person seated next to her was transformed. The grey-garbed man was no more, and in his place sat a black-clad and masked Kylo Ren.

A sigh that sounded more like a death rattle issued from Kylo’s voice modulator. “So. We’re back to this. I’ve tried to be reasonable, I thought you were willing to see - but I guess you’ll only ever see the _creature in a mask._ ”

Kylo grasped at the latches of the mask, yanking it from his face. He looked at the face of it with a grimace, then chucked it with a decisive _thunk_ into the wet sand in front of them. A moment passed between him and Rey as they watched the waves lap around the edges of the metal.

“The mask... _That’s_ what you are to me. _That’s_ who I know. And I can deal with that - you’re the evil I need to defeat. It doesn’t matter if you say you’re Ben, or if I call you Ben Solo or Kylo Ren - they’re one and the same, and my enemy. Master Luke has told me I need to conquer my fears, so in my meditations and dreams you’re _always_ Kylo Ren in the mask with the lightsaber and trying to kill me. But this-” Rey gestured to him, the beach, everything - “ _This_ is scarier to me. Seeing you like this, talking to you like this… It makes you seem… Human. I don’t like it.”

Kylo scoffed. “Leave it to Luke to insist on seeing the world in nothing but black and white, good and evil, Jedi and Sith - and teaching you the same. It’s very Jedi of him.”

“How are you any better?! You’re living some messed up dual life in your own head! Wanting me to call you Ben when you know full well you’re _him_ , and you yourself said that Ben’s _dead-”_

“I’m trying to make this easier for you! I know damn well that Kylo Ren and Ben Solo are the same man, I’m trying to prove that he’s… _I’m_ not this completely evil monster-”

“I think _killing your father in cold blood_ puts you pretty firmly in the ‘evil’ category. How can you even pretend-”

“What if I told you everything was different now?”

Rey stopped short, the silence between her Kylo punctuated by the soft crash of waves on the shore, as the ocean now almost completely enveloped the mask. They held each other’s gaze, Rey seeing the sincerity in his eyes. Shaking her head, she broke the connection.

“How would anything be _different?_  I know what I saw. You can’t separate yourself from your actions just because you decided _Kylo Ren_ was the one to do things you don’t like. You murdered Han Solo and tried to do the same to me and Finn.”

“I don’t deny that I killed my father.” Kylo replied stiffly, his eyes guarded. “And I tried to kill your friend. Kylo Ren - _I_   was a different person then, confused, _mad,_ torn apart by the Force - but even then, I never meant to kill you. You’re the reason I was able to regain myself, without you, I would have never come to know the truth. Search your feelings, Rey. Feel me in the Force. Everything has changed. I never wanted to hurt you.”

“I - I don’t believe you.” Though Rey could feel the validity of his statement in the Force, it made no sense. This entire ordeal had already been more than she could take in a single night. “And you hurting me is the whole reason we’re in this situation to start with! Every time you’ve used spice, it’s like the Force is being torn away from me. And _why_ ? I tried to reach you again just before that last time, but surely you’ve got people to murder and better things to do with the First Order than waste your life away on _spice_.”

A dark look crossed Kylo’s face. “I’m… That’s a conversation for later. When we’re not in a dream and everyone’s sober. Let’s just say this: I need to stay completely hidden in the Force, the spice works, and I’m trying to come up with a better solution. But - last time -  you fixed it!” Kylo said brightly. “Whatever you did last time worked, right? You can just do that again until I can figure something else out.”

“That took a _lot_ of concentration, it completely drained me, and I still have no idea what exactly I did to keep it from affecting me-” Rey shuddered as a chill settled over her body.

Kylo sighed, and the same shiver seemed to pass over him. “The spice is wearing off, I’ll be exposed pretty soon. It looks like our time here is about over anyway. Just… Please try to keep this conversation here. Kylo… I’m… When I’m sober, I’m just not quite ready to handle this. I need time.”

“Wait!” cried Rey as a fog of white entered from the corners of her eyes. The last thing she saw were Kylo’s sad eyes before she woke with a gasp.

Rey felt an immediate sense of hunger and unease. She was exhausted, confused, and angry - not to mention cold and disoriented, since evidently it was still the middle of the night. Upon waking, she was already getting unwanted glimpses of Kylo in her mind, wherever he was, and the sights were now familiar as she saw flashes of shaking hands scrabbling for spice.

As desperate as Kylo, Rey quickly assumed a meditation position, ready to try to ward off the impending hole in the Force, hoping desperately she could figure out what kept the hole from swallowing her up last time.

 _Damn you, Kylo Ren!_ She thought frustratedly as she struggled to maintain a calm before the storm in her exhausted state. One would think that, after what they had just talked about, he’d back off on so deliberately trying to hurt her due to his selfishness. He _knew_ what the spice did to her, and she wasn’t ready to fight off the effects like she just did a few hours ago.

Meditation wasn’t enough this time. She was just too tired. As spice flowed through Kylo’s veins, Rey cried out as she felt the Force ebbing from her. Evidently, this was a much bigger hit of spice than the previous ones, since Rey felt practically pulled under by the pressure of the wave as she drowned in the _nothingness_ left in the wake of the hole in the Force. Gasping, her body shook and her head pounded, her connection to the Force completely depleted as she felt _I’m sorry_ repeated over and over in the back of her head...

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

For the second time in a full day, Rey woke with a throbbing headache.

The Force was with her again, though her connection felt fragile and worn, like an overused muscle. It was morning, so at least she had gotten some sleep, though Rey hardly felt rested.

The implications of last night hit her hard, like suddenly remembering a nightmare. She wished it _had_ been a nightmare, albeit a weird one. But there were just too many coincidences, and it all felt too real - not to mention that evidently, either the revelations or the implications of the dream had led Kylo to his biggest overdose of spice yet, causing most of Rey’s current problems.

Rey stumbled through her morning routine, and barely made it through lessons with Master Luke. She excused her exhaustion with a lame “ _I didn’t sleep well_ ” that Luke seemed to only partially buy, but thankfully he didn’t pry. Fortunately, her lessons with Luke were still so restrictive that her worn connection with the Force and stumbling steps weren’t as obvious as she’d feared. Finally, it was time for morning meditation, and Rey couldn’t _wait_ to give Kylo a piece of her non-dreaming mind for that fiasco last night.

It was becoming increasingly easier to find Kylo in the Force, despite nearly all other aspects of the Force feeling like a drain to Rey ever since Kylo’s spice habit became part of her life. She didn’t really want to dwell on _why_ this connection now came to her so easily, she was just grateful that it was there for her to use.

_Kylo Ren, you have got some explaining to do!_

There was a pregnant silence in the Force. Kylo had definitely heard her, but was slow to respond.

**_Hey girl._ **

That was _not_ the response Rey was expecting.

_You said that you weren’t going to take the Force from me, that you’d keep me away from this filthy habit! Explain yourself!_

Another awkwardly long pause.

 **_I’m… You’re… What?_ ** **_You_ ** **_explain yourself._ **

Rey couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She didn’t even know how a voice in her head could sound slurred, but there it was.

_Are you… Drunk?_

**_Stars, you’re so hot._ **

_That_ snapped Rey right out of meditation. _What_ did he just say? He had to be drunk. _Plastered,_ even, to say something like that aloud. Clearly, he wasn’t in a state to be on the receiving end of her tirade, simply because he wouldn’t remember a damn word of it.

**_I’m sorry._ **

Rey had forgotten that Kylo Ren, even drunk Kylo Ren, apparently didn’t need to be in a meditative state to communicate with her.

**_You don’t need to meditate, either. It’s part of our Pond._ **

_...What?_

**_A Force Pond. Pond? Porce Fond? Fffffond? We’re Fonded, Rey._ ** Kylo sounded very sure of that statement.

_I don’t know what you’re talking about, and I don't care to listen. All I want is for you to stay out of my head, especially if you’re going to keep up this spice habit. You hurt me last night, a lot._

**_I’m so sorry, Rey. I’m so, so sorry. I never want to hurt you. That’s why I’m drunk. That’s why I did all that spice, so I’d forget. I wanted to forget that I hurt you, but now that’s all I remember. It’s a spice circle._ **

_You’re not making the slightest bit of sense._

**_Shh… Shh.. You hear that?_ ** There was a long pause, as Rey waited for this drunkard to finish the thought, hoping he hadn’t passed out mid-thought. **_You can’t, because HE can’t. It’s not as good as the spice, but I don’t like hurting you. I’m going to try, Rey. I’m going to try for you, but I think I still need the spice sometimes, especially when he’s really looking._ **

_What - who’s “he?”_

**_SHH! Don’t say his name. Stay quiet. I promise I’ll only use spice when I absolutely have to. I’ll try to warn you in the Fond. I don’t like hurting you, especially now. Now you be a good girl and go play Jedi._ **

_Wait, KYLO!_

 

And just like that, Rey could no longer feel Kylo’s presence in her mind. There was still a lingering thread, but it was as though he had simply muted the constant flow of their thoughts. Evidently, even _plastered_ , he was more adept with the Force than she was.

Rey desperately needed to have a conversation with Master Luke _._ Now, just how _honest_ a conversation that was going to be remained to be seen.

 

**_Next time, on Arrested Development:_ **

 

 

>  
> 
> _Narrator: And soon G.O.B. found himself experiencing what on the street is referred to as a "roofie circle" whereby a roofie is taken the day after a degrading event too late to erase the memory of the degrading event itself but not too late to erase the prior day's attempt to erase the event. Thus, with no memory of taking the roofie but the memory of the event very much alive, the victim of the roofie circle finds himself constantly trying to re-erase the memory but only succeeds in erasing the memory of the attempt to erase the memory. Days turn into weeks, weeks turn into months, and relationships grow testy. And what begins in shame almost always ends in a Mexican hospital with stage 4 syphilis._
> 
>  
> 
> _– Arrested Development, Season 4, Episode 7 - “Colony Collapse”_


	3. Exit Strategy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm not dead, I'm just a public school teacher. 
> 
> Rey discovers the consequences of not coming forward with information, and relying on good intentions.

> _Narrator: Meanwhile Lindsay and Lucille were at a spa in the desert avoiding both rehab and their depositions._
> 
> _Lucille: Four saunas, three steam baths, an Olympic-sized pool - and you’re telling me there’s no alcohol? What the hell are we supposed to do for two days?_
> 
> _Lindsay: I could take the top off this grape juice and maybe by morning…_
> 
>   
>  _Lucille: Oh, for God’s sake, Lindsay, grow up. You’re 40 years old._
> 
> _Lindsay: Thirty-five. (pause) Well, maybe this will be nice. We can talk... and connect a little._
> 
> _Lucille: I must have a Xanax._
> 
> _Lindsay: I’ll go score some weed from the staff._
> 
> _– Arrested Development, Season 3, Episode 12 - “Exit Strategy”_

 

**Chapter 3 - Exit Strategy**

In the end, Rey was a coward.

She was a procrastinator first. Kylo had kept to his word this last week, laying off the spice completely - giving Rey hope that, as Kylo had promised, this arrangement could work.

But the drinking. The _hangovers_. The occasional drunken rants of a plastered Kylo Ren by day (who wouldn’t shut up about “ _destiny_ ” and this forsaken “ _fond_ ”), followed by the brash-yet-apologetic dream-Kylo Ren at night (who turned a deaf ear to anything about “ _fonds_ ” or “ _being a murderer_ ”). It didn’t matter if Kylo tried to mostly block Rey out from what he was doing all day, it spilled over into her mind without fail - almost as often as he was spilling Corellian whiskey down the front of his clothes, apparently.

Rey was in a constant state of being mildly intoxicated with all of the negatives, and none of the benefits. And it was driving her _insane_.

Oh, she _tried_ to tell Master Luke. Rey was still desperately scared that she would somehow say or do the wrong thing, and Luke would send her away, leaving her alone and abandoned once again - but with what was happening to her… She knew she had to try something. _Four_ times, she had approached him with the intent of coming completely clean about everything that had transpired between her and Luke’s wayward nephew.

The first time was a complete wash. Rey had walked toward Master Luke with great determination after suffering through hour two of that day’s hangover migraine, and then immediately pivoted on her heel and walked right away from him with equal purpose.

On her second try, she got close. Rey managed to open up a little about the struggle she felt regarding Kylo - seeing his turmoil on Starkiller and the connection she had felt with him on the Finalizer, even though Leia had _begged_ her not to bring this up to Luke. The absurdly youthful, hopeful look on Luke’s wizened face when Rey quoted Kylo’s line about the Light “ _tearing him apart_ ”... Well, Rey just couldn’t bring herself to smash the hopes of a desperate man when she revealed that Kylo was, evidently, crazier than ever.

The third time, perhaps she had been too vague, metaphorical, and Jakku-regional-slang-filled.

“ _Well, Rey, if you’re calling having difficulties channeling the sacred balance of the Force in your mind ‘pop-pop in the attic,’ perhaps you see why I think you’re too inexperienced for anything more than basic meditation._ ”

So by the fourth time, Rey tried to be blunt. She told Luke that she felt as though she was going through changes, she didn’t know what was happening or where these emotions of rage and sorrow were coming from, how she had a week where she felt like there was a hole inside her trying to eat her and the Force alive - she was just about to launch into how she was _certain_ Kylo Ren was responsible for all of this when a red-faced Master Luke cut her off.

“Rey. Please. I think… I think you need to go visit my sister. She can - I’m - I’m not equipped to deal with this. I know that life for you was very difficult on Jakku, your body adapted to the harsh climate, and you didn’t have anyone to turn to or teach you - but now you’ve gone through some… Changes… That are better explained by a female-”

Rey stopped him before he embarrassed himself further. She realized the error in her speech too late, though Luke wasn’t too far from the truth of things - indeed, her monthly cycle had only just picked up a few months ago, though thankfully it was when she was still at the Resistance base, with its supplies and helpful fellow ladies.

But maybe it would be helpful to record and listen to what she was saying before she went running her mouth in apparently socially-awkward ways. Who knew?

It was evident from the mishaps in attempting to come clean so far that Rey wouldn't be able to fully confess anytime soon. Besides, Master Luke had practically dropped a gift in her lap of giving her an excuse to get off-world and try to get her head on straight, without giving Luke reason to doubt her and subsequently abandon her and her training.

And so Rey found herself breathing freely for the first time in ages, leaning back in the pilot seat of the Millennium Falcon. Artoo had come with her to help with the infamously temperamental Falcon, and Chewie had stayed behind on Ach-To with Luke. Rey had set a course for the Resistance base using the last set of coordinates sent by General Organa, and here in the white noise of hypserspace, she was able to forget about her troubles for awhile and simply _relax_ -

She should have known it was too good to last.

**_Should you be piloting right now?_ **

Of course. Of _course_ Kylo Ren would find a way to ruin this. And judging from how he sounded, he had just woken up, was hung over, and was therefore probably in one of his mean-drunk moods.

Over the last week, Rey had met several varieties of drunk-Kylo. Amazingly, for the most part, he was fairly agreeable - a drunken mess, but he kept his promise of staying out of her head and off the spice. When he first woke up, he was usually horrible, but at least quiet. At his drunkest, he was an absolute nonsensical wreck, which was when Rey was typically treated to some of his more abstract rantings. She was hesitant to see just how mean-drunk today’s Kylo would be.

_It’s locked into autopilot, I’ll be fine. Besides, I hardly doubt this is the first time the Falcon has been piloted under the influence. Now leave me alone._

_**Where are you going?** _

_Not that it’s any of your business, but to see your mother._

**_I’m honestly flattered that you’re so obsessed with my family, it almost makes me think you care about me. But why go for the old model when you can trade in for the new?_ **

Rey rubbed at her temples, feeling the full force of his hangover coming on. So, _this_ version of Kylo was the one she was going to have to deal with. The weirdly competent, flirtatious one. In some ways, this was the most dangerous one of all, since Rey had to really concentrate to hide her thoughts and emotions. One time, she let slip that something he said made her blush. She didn’t hear the end of it for days. Fortunately, she had dealt with this version of him enough times to know some decent countermeasures.

_You know, you were probably conceived on this ship. I wonder which bunk? Your mother would probably know, I’ll make sure to ask her for the full, detailed story. Which I’ll think about. **Endlessly**._

And just like that, their connection slammed shut. Rey sighed happily, closing her eyes once again. Whenever she managed to anger him, she usually was treated with a few hours of blissful, drunkenness-free peace, which she fully intended to use as much of as she could.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rey was woken by a shrill chorus of beeps between the Falcon and Artoo.

“What? We can’t possibly already be there!”

Artoo replied, stating that according to the navcomputer, they had arrived at their destination, but there was no sign of a Resistance base, or any Resistance activity for thousands of lightyears in any direction.

Groggy, Rey pushed through the readouts, trying to make sense of what she was hearing.

“Well, this can’t be right, General Organa said that it would take at least a day to get to the current base, wherever they are. Are you sure the navcomputer got this right?”

Artoo gave a mournful whistle, then piped in a suggestion.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. Let’s hope it’s something we can fix together, right, Artoo?”

Rey set the _Falcon_ to drift over whatever horrid, smoggy, swamp-planet the navcomputer had dumped them out at. She set to work disconnecting the navcomputer, sighing deeply. It could have been virtually any other problem with the ship, and she would have been able to handle it without breaking a sweat - but her specialty was dealing with all things mechanical… Which something with the touchy software of a navcomputer decidedly _wasn’t_. At least disconnected, it couldn’t get them in any more trouble than it already had.

“All right, Artoo, tell me what you can find out about what’s going on here.” Rey pulled back a couple of plates from the brick-like CPU, exposing a portal just large enough for Artoo to interface with.

Artoo plugged in, giving a few cheeful beeps as the navcomputer whirred to life. Rey found the glow of a single orange light, helpfully labeled “ **ERROR**.” Well, _that_ was certainly an encouraging sign.

Seconds later, Artoo gave a long whistle as he confirmed that the navcomputer was in perfect working order. “That _can’t_ be right - we’re in the wrong place, and there’s an error light - look!”

Artoo practically harrumphed, stating that, while there were numerous updates and disk volumes in need of recoupling, the navcomputer was functioning as intended.

“Okay, but what about the light? I don’t like seeing that.”

Practically giving the droid equivalent of a chuckle, Artoo stated that this particular light had probably been on longer than Rey had been alive. Evidently, like Rey, Han wasn’t too fond of software components, and as long as they worked, he didn’t touch them. As long as the light wasn’t red, Artoo helpfully supplied, the Falcon would be just fine.

“Right, but that still doesn’t change the fact that we’re not where we’re supposed to be, so _clearly_ something’s wrong with the navcomputer.” Rey drooped in the pilot’s chair, defeated. “We need to contact the General, find a repair shop, or at least an extranet terminal - maybe updating it will help… Hopefully we won’t have to buy a new one.” Lazily punching at the display before her, Rey squinted in distaste. “Let’s hope they’ve got what we need down there on… _Nal Hutta_??”

The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. As soon as Rey realized just which horrible swamp-planet they were stranded outside of, the _Falcon_ was flanked by two well-armed Hutt slaver ships.

“ _Light freighter YT-3100, designation 492727ZED, disable your weapon systems and proceed to your designated platform. Have your docking fees and delinquent fines ready for payment upon disembarkation_.” the command crackled across the comm channel, the speaker with a barely concealed Hutteese drawl on his Basic.

“Um, Nal Hutta ship, I read you loud and clear, but my navcomputer is, er, _dead_ , we were hoping to repair or replace in-port. Requesting escort to this designated platform?” Rey replied hopefully.

An exasperated sigh came across the channel. “ _YT-3100, you better be as loaded as that pretty Core-world accent of yours sounds like. Disable your weapon systems, and follow the ship on your starboard side_.”

Rey closed off the communications channel, powering down the Falcon’s defense and weapons systems. Docking fees? Delinquent fines? _Hutts_? This could get complicated, and quickly.

The slaver ship began its descent over one of the larger settlements. Though the atmosphere was thick and murky, Rey could make out the outlines of clusters of bulbous buildings, and a somewhat ill-looking yellowish glow of light all around the place. It was thoroughly… Unappetizing.

“Well, Artoo, I sure hope you’ve got a better idea of where we are and what we should do. Because I haven’t got a clue.”

Artoo let forth an unusually cheery series of chirps.

“What? That’s - Bilbousa? You’ve been here before?”

Artoo confirmed that, while he had been here, it was classified information - but he’d be happy to help, so long as the city hadn’t changed much in 50 years.

The Hutt ship had come to a hover by an empty platform, Rey could only assume this was their destination. Rey wasn’t quite sure she heard Artoo right, since she was busy punching in a landing sequence -

“I’m sorry, _fifty_ years? Just how long has it been since your memory was wiped?”

Artoo hummed obliviously as he began lowering the Falcon’s platform. Clearly, Rey wasn’t getting any more information out of the mysterious droid for now. His humming faded as he descended the platform; Rey could now tell that it was fully open, since a horrid cloud of swampy air had already begun to fill the ship.

“YT-3100 pilot, come out with your hands where I can see ‘em!” bellowed a voice from below.

“All right, all right, hold on!” Rey shouted back testily. She grabbed a worn grey shawl she’d been using as a pillow, pulling it over her head and arranging it to hide her lightsaber and as much of her face as she could. She’d give anything to have her old scavenging getup right now - to shield her from both prying eyes and the awful stink of this planet. With the navcomputer and the Falcon’s CPU in her bag, Rey was assured that this ship wasn’t going anywhere without her.

“Oy, below! I’m coming down!” Rey warned as she strapped her staff to her back, coming down the ramp with her hands in front of her.

This was… Unexpected. Artoo was stopped at the base of the ramp, surrounded by a gaggle of about 10 well-armed individuals, all with various blasters and bowcasters aimed right at Rey. Some of them looked like bounty hunters, but most had a blue uniform on that Rey quickly identified was one worn by the other dock workers.

One of the blue-clad workers, a rather rotund human armed with nothing but a datapad, but with the confidence of someone much better equipped, elbowed his way to the front of the crowd. “An’ jus’ who’re you?”

“I-I’m Rey.” Rey stuttered automatically. She had meant to use an alias, but obviously that plan was already out the window. She needed to _concentrate_!

The dock worker’s face screwed up in distaste. “Rey Solo?”

Color bloomed across Rey’s face. “No! No. Just Rey. I’m here for a navcomputer-”

“My file here says these outstandin’ payments tied to your ship need to be paid by Solo, or this…” he squinted at his datapad, then evidently gave up on the name- “Wookiee. Now, if I understan’ the rumors, your Han Solo bit the dust a few months ago. Rest his soul.” the dock worker gave a dramatic roll of his eyes, and a chuckle went through several of the bounty hunters gathered. “But debt doesn’t go away with death, and this particular debt is tied to this here platform, and that there ship.”

“But this isn’t my ship! I - I stole it-”

“Yeah. Right. The way you turned all red when I said Han Solo’s dead? So far as the Hutt Port Authority is concerned, this is your ship. Now, Solo owed over twenty thousand credits in docking fees and fines alone.”

“Twenty _thousand_?” Rey’s mind reeled at the thought.

“I ain’t done yet. You ain’t Solo, or this Wookiee - those’re the only names I’ve got on my manifest authorized to pay this here debt. With the documentin’ that would need to take place for you to pay this, I’m ‘fraid it’s gonna be forty thousand. Fifty, if you want the paperwork processed in the next month.”

Rage spiked through Rey’s veins. She had been swindled and taken advantage of like this her whole life - she thought that with joining the Resistance, training with Luke, that _somehow_ she had escaped this life, become something better- but her old life somehow always came back to haunt her. Made to feel indebted to others, to feel weak and helpless, willing to do anything - but this time was different.

“You will not charge me an extra thirty thousand credits.” Rey stalked toward the dock worker, fury pouring off her in waves as his smug expression melted off his face. “You will give me the exact amount owed on this ship, and I will pay it.”

“W-well, you see, little lady, the exact amount owed is 18,749, but-but the name - that amount has to be paid by-”

Rey glared daggers up at him, glad that the Force apparently loaned her several inches of height as far as intimidation - she was easily a head shorter than this sweating man.

“Very well, uh, Ms. Solo, we’ll make this work. Will we be processing your payment now, or…?”

“You will receive payment when I have it. Until then, leave me alone.” Rey hissed.

“You - you do understand that we’ll have to, ah, _boot_ your ship until payment is received, yes, uh, ma’am?”

“It’s not going anywhere anyway. Now unless you’ve got the name of someone who can do navcomputer repair, _move_.” Rey strode forward, Artoo trailing behind her, parting the remaining onlookers as most of the well-armed group dispersed.

Rey’s heart was racing a million miles an hour. That feeling, the way the commands just fell out of her lips and people listened - where did _that_ come from? Nevertheless, it was effective. Her confident walk only faltered when she heard shouting.

“Excuse me, Miss? You knew Han Solo?”

Rey turned to face a curious Rodian, one of the bounty hunters from the initial group at the landing pad.

“Um, yes. Briefly.”

“He was a good man, shame what happened to him. The First Order is ruthless.” the Rodian looked her up and down, and sighed. “If you were hoping your Resistance was going to bail you out of this, you might want to consider another option. They’ve been in a communications blackout for over a week now.”

“What? I mean, I’m not, I’m - “ all of her confidence from earlier was busted. Rey’s shoulders drooped, defeated. “How could you tell?”

“I’m older than I look. Rebels, Resistance, Republic - all of you have that absurdly hopeful look in your eye. Plus, your bag was a dead giveaway.” the Rodian gestured toward the Resistance patches covering her bag, which Rey quickly made an effort to hide. “Watch who you talk to, or how much you say here. Nal Hutta doesn’t want anything to do with the First Order, but they’re not very keen on the New Republic or the Resistance, either.” He nodded in the direction of one of the wider streets leading away from the docks. “If you follow that street, you’ll find a repair shop, Bulgo’s- he can help you with that navcomputer. He’s not cheap, but he’s reliable. Good luck.”

The Rodian disappeared into the crowd, leaving a dumbfounded Rey. Maybe there were some decent people on this rock, after all.

“What do you think, Artoo? Should we follow his directions? Could just be a scam he’s got going with the shop owner, finder’s fees and all. But it’s better than nothing.”

Artoo whistled in agreement, and they set off.

Rey hadn’t seen much of the galaxy in her nearly 20 short years, but the city of Bilbousa was… _different_. While the air here wasn’t nearly as hot as on Jakku, the humidity made it almost unbearable, especially to one used to the dry desert air like Rey. But despite the weather, the streets were busy, and Rey relished in the cool, dry air that occasionally wafted out of higher end shops that clearly could afford climate control.

Finally, they reached Bulgo’s, or so the sign proclaimed. It wasn’t even a shop, more of a glorified junkyard with a solitary tent set up amid the heaps of ship parts - Rey immediately felt more at ease - this was a world she knew.

Picking her way across the parts, Rey looked for any sign of a shopkeeper. “Hello in there! I was told I could find help with a navcomputer?”

There were several crashes, then a distinct shuffling noise. A rather aged looking Dug grasped his way to perch atop a crate, using one of his feet to adjust his comically large and thick glasses, peering down at Rey. “Huh, human. Whaddya want?”

“I was told you were the one to come to about a navcomputer.”

The Dug shrugged. “I might be. Let’s see what you’ve got.” The Dug seized the navcomputer from Rey, using his oddly nimble feet to turn it over a few times as he inspected it, taking particular notice of the wires hanging out at odd angles. “Uh-huh. Not the first time I’ve seen this. Not even the first time this week. How long has this been hooked up in your YT-3000-series?”

Rey looked to Artoo for help, who chirped out an absurd number.

“At least _forty_ years! Hah! I gotta tell Zeek about this. _HEY! ZEEK!_ ” the Dug bellowed without warning.

A lump of what Rey previously thought was scrap rustled, and unearthed yet another Dug. “Ugh, what is it now, Bulgo?”

“This moron’s managed to have a D3 navcomputer daisy-chained to her YT for forty years!”

The Dugs shared a chorus of uproarious laughter, and Rey felt her patience running extremely thin. “Look, if you’re just going to laugh at me, I’ll take my business elsewhere!”

“I kid, I kid, girl. Us old folks don’t get many jokes like this these days.” The Dug - the eponymous Bulgo, apparently - peered at Rey over his glasses. “Are you serious about trying to repair this?”

“It was working properly, until today! It just sent me here instead of - well, where I’m supposed to be.”

“Maybe it doesn’t like you.” Bulgo replied as though it was the most obvious answer in the world.

“What?” Rey replied incredulously. “It’s… It’s a computer.”

“Ahh, yes, but it’s been part of this ship - which, if I may venture a guess, hasn’t been your ship for very long, has she - if she is your ship at all!” Bulgo chuckled, shaking his head. “These older ships, with older parts - they start to take on a personality, if you will. Get finnicky in their old years, won’t run like they used to unless they like the pilot.”

Rey pinched her nose, at her wit’s end. “So is it fixable or not? Do I need to buy a new one?”

“It’s technically working just fine, as I’m sure your astromech here already told you.” Bulgo gave an appreciative nod to Artoo. “A new one is just going to make your ship even more confused and angry at you. What you need is someone who knows their way around a YT-3000 series light freighter to run the reinstalls and upgrades it needs, not to mention a few hardware recouplings. See, you can’t just hook these old navcomputers up to the extranet and hope for the best, you need someone who knows what they’re doing in there for your ship.”

Sighing, Rey felt defeated. “And I suppose you’re the only person who knows how to do this, and you’re going to charge me whatever you want?”

“Hah! I wish. Do you see this place? Even if I knew what I was doing with it, you wouldn’t catch me dead prying open a navcomputer here, that just has customer lawsuit written all over it. But I know a guy.”

Rey raised a skeptical brow. “What’s your price?”

Bulgo chuckled. “Knock one on me and I’ll tell ya where to find him.”

Shrugging, Rey leaned right forward and kissed the old Dug on the cheek.

“HAH! Zeek! Did you see that! Cheeky little girl went and kissed me!” Bulgo shook his head in laughter, dabbing at his eyes with a foot. “Never in all my years…”

Unphased, Rey crossed her arms. “Your man?”

“Of course, of course. I was going to tell you anyway, but for that, I’ll give you a name and where to find him. Name’s Nab, he works security at Fulcrum, that old classy club downtown. I played pazaak with him and a guy last week, this fella had almost the same navcomputer problem as you - dunno what he charged, but he got him fixed up and outta here in a day. The guy doesn’t talk much, but he runs a pazaak game most nights once it’s calmed down.”

Rey could almost kiss him again. “Thank you! Thank you so much! Come on, Artoo!”

Artoo whistled merrily, confidently leading the way to Fulcrum as the old Dugs continued sharing a laugh over the strange young girl’s brashness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rey had never felt less confident in her life.

Her first mistake, evidently, was showing up to a nightclub just past sunset. Rey had walked right in, no security in sight. The spacious, beautiful club was largely deserted, save for a handful of Weequays who appeared to be regulars, judging by their relaxed discourse with the aged Togruta manning the bar.

Not wanting to draw much attention to herself or get thrown out for not being a customer, Rey ordered a drink, and took up a table in the shadows, but still within view of the door. When this Nab showed up, she'd know. She set about fiddling with the Falcon’s navcomputer, mostly to make herself look busy and and ward off conversation.

However, her hopes for going unnoticed and being left alone were in vain. One of the particularly garishly-clad Weequays sauntered over to Rey’s table, making a great show of pushing a drink toward her and casually leaning against the wall beside her, blocking her from view of the door.

“Jakku. I’d bet my _life_ on it - or, more accurately, the hundred credits my friend owes me if I’m right.”

Rey glared up at him, earning her a chuckle from the old pirate. “ _Hah_! That tells me all I need to know. Roku swore you were some rich core-worlder runaway kid, but not with that mean mug and the way you’re clutching that piece of junk. You’ve got the desert all _over_ you, girl.” He nodded his lined face toward the drink. “That’s on me. Drink up, they’re going to kick us real folk outta here before the bottle service crowd shows up.”

She had meant to stay stonily silent, but Rey was taken off-guard by this particular declaration. “B-but I’m meeting someone! They can’t just throw me out, I’m a paying customer!” Rey spluttered indignantly.

Rey felt slightly violated as the clearly ancient Weequay sized her up, and laughed again. “ _Oh_ , Miss Jakku, so _naive_ … You could pass in the right clothes - but if ol’ Hondo can sniff out a desert mouse that fast, you’d best believe the crowd here will laugh you out of town. Who’s the lucky man? Maybe I know him.”

Uncomfortable revealing her purpose here, Rey realized that she needed all the contacts here she could get. “His name’s Nab, apparently he works here. I was reliably informed he could help me with a navcomputer.”

The Weequay - Hondo, evidently - went still as he exhaled slowly, suddenly looking much older. “ ‘Nab,’ eh?” he shot back the rest of his drink, shaking his head. “You be careful there, Miss Jakku. He’s a dangerous man, and don’t think you can beat him in Pazaak to get your scrap fixed.”

“I can take care of myself.” Rey replied coolly.

“Of _course_ you can, Miss Jakku. But all the same, stay wary around - _well_ , speak of the sithspawn and he appears…” he muttered, glaring toward the bar.

A door behind the bar area slammed open, the hinges squealing in protest at the abuse. A black-clad figure wearing an Ubeshian mask stalked out from behind the counter, grabbing a handle of liquor, an action met with an eyeroll from the Togruta bartender.

“That’s him.” Hondo muttered, shaking his head. “A real piece of work, just like his grandfather.”

The masked face turned sharply toward Rey, taking her aback. Clearly, the man wasn’t actually Ubese, he was far too tall, though the mask looked old and well worn. Perhaps he simply found the air here as repugnant as she did. Rey’s eyes widened as he stomped directly toward her, his gait clearly not sober, but still threatening.

“ _I thought we agreed you’d be out by nightfall._ ” The filtered voice through the mask was biting and eerie, though thankfully directed at Hondo, and not Rey.

Hondo scoffed. “You can take that up with the old lady, she said me and the boys could stick around until the Hutts arrive. Until then, I believe _you_ have some business waiting for you here?” Hondo tipped his hat toward the still-seated Rey, muttering to her as he made a hasty exit: “ _Watch your back._ ”

“Umm…” Rey was having trouble getting attention from this Nab person, who was currently scanning the room. “I have it on good authority you’re the person to see about fixing a YT-3100 navcomputer.”

The masked man glared down at Rey, and gave a noncommittal grunt. His gaze swept the room again, before he reached down and bodily removed Rey from her seat, forcibly dragging her across the floor.

“W-what? EXCUSmmmf-” Nab had swung Rey to walk in front of him, keeping an arm pinned behind her back and now a hand over her mouth as well. But instead of hauling her to the front door as Rey expected, he aimed toward the very door he had staggered through just moments ago.

Blind instincts kicked in, and Rey thrashed wildly in the steel grasp of her captor. With a long-suffering sigh, he reconfigured her into a decidedly more open, yet restrictive, mode of transportation by cradling her struggling body in his arms.

Her mouth now unobstructed, Rey was free to express her exact feelings on this situation as she was led through several sharp turns in narrow corridors - “NOW JUST WHAT THE-“

Without prelude or warning, Rey’s body was used as a blunt force to break a door open, where she was summarily deposited on a… bed?

 _What_?

Still regaining her senses, Rey began to prime herself for a first-rate beat down of this particularly thick-skulled moron who _clearly_ had ulterior motives for this night.

However, her grand plan was brought to an abrupt halt upon seeing the face of her captor, who had just ripped off his helmet and dropped it to the floor with an echoing thunk. Rey gasped, and recoiled defensively at the unmasked figure in front of her.

“ And just why the _hell_ are you here?” snarled Kylo Ren, his eyes as wild as his hair as he grasped Rey’s forearms.

>   
>  _Next time, on Arrested Development:_
> 
> _Michael: “And so you just finished off the bottle?”_
> 
> _Lindsay: “Well, I had to. It’s vodka. It goes bad once it’s opened.”_
> 
> _Michael: “I think that’s another one of Mom’s little fibs. You know, like “I’ll sacrifice anything for my children.”_
> 
> _– Arrested Development, Season 3, Episode 12 - “Exit Strategy”_


	4. Teach Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me and my long-ass chapters are back! I feel like I can now hash the rest of this out pretty quickly. This chapter swaps perspective a few times at the beginning, notated by ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~. Also, Kylo does a lot of talking with his helmet on, he'll be in italics when he's doing that. We're getting into Explicit next chapter, babyyyyyyyy!

> _Ann: “You must teach me, George Michael! You must teach me the ways of the secular flesh!”_
> 
> _– Arrested Development, Season 2, Episode 16, “Meat the Veals”_

 

**Chapter 4 - Teach Me**

As long as he could remember, Kylo had been told to _breathe_. Don't be so hasty, consider your options, think it through. Count to ten, _calm down_.

Unfortunately, this long-ignored advice was completely meaningless when faced with a stunningly attractive girl who positively shone with the Force. And was clearly a trap.

She had to be stopped.

“I'm not going to ask again, Scavenger. _Why_ are you _here_?” he spat, venom attempting to mask the deeply-buried delight at seeing her in person.

Rey bristled like a wet Loth-cat. “Trust me, I didn't have a choice in the matter. Clearly, my being here - this - was just… _Terrible_ luck.”

Kylo paced the small room, pulling at his hair. “In my experience, there's no such thing as ‘ _luck_ ,’ only the Force. Or… meddling. Tell me, who sent you?”

“No one sent me! I told you earlier, I was on the way to your mother, then the navcomputer-”

“ _Mother_ …” he hissed. “Yes, this does just have _her_ written all over it, doesn't it? Alone, desperate, and then you just _happen_ to fall into my lap.”

“Look, I don't know what you're saying, this was a complete mistake-”

“Oh, was it? You just stalled out where I've been hiding for a month? Everyone you meet just wants to help you and get you moving on your way? I've been informed of your actions since the _Falcon_ arrived, girl. This was set up. A trap.” Kylo somehow managed to pace more violently, continually running his hands through his hair.

Rey couldn't back much further away on the bed, but she tried, holding her hands before her defensively. “I-I think you just need to _calm_ _down_ -”

Kylo staggered away from her, shuddering and wincing. “Can't you just turn it down a _little_?”

Perplexed, Rey lowered her guard. “What?”

“You're glowing like the sun, Scavenger. You're going to expose _both_ of us at this rate, more than you already have.”

Rey felt her mouth hang open in complete and utter confusion. “Huh?”

“The _Force_! It’s all around you, just… so _blatant_. If I can tell even in this state - stars, I should have guessed…” Kylo began digging through a drawer beside the bed, chucking objects over his shoulder as he went, occasionally drinking the dregs from some of the bottles he tossed. “Tell me, just what _has_ my senile uncle been teaching you this whole time?”

“He's been teaching me plenty!” Rey bursted, cheeks turning pink. “We've been over meditation, breathing, focusing, and, um, centering…”

Kylo looked over his shoulder, face caught between disgust and horror. “Maker, it’s worse than I thought… I almost feel bad about this.”

“About what?”

“ _This_.”

Kylo lunged forward, knees framing Rey’s body, while one hand pinned her wrists above her head and the other hand came to rest at her neck. His fingers softly stroked at at her neck as Rey found herself frozen, fighting back the whimper caught in her throat, forcing herself to keep some level of control by maintaining eye contact with Kylo.

Though he only used his shins and hands to keep her captive, his looming presence and body heat were undeniable. In the long silence that passed between them, Rey realized that as far as she could remember, this was the longest she had ever been in physical contact with another person.

Her mind wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Her body… was a different story.

“Evidently... My Uncle hasn't bothered to _truly_ educate you about all the Force has to offer, so this can't be _that_ bad. This is for both of us - for everyone’s safety.” Kylo practically whispered, moving a few stray hairs away from the nape of Rey’s neck.

“W-what?” Rey’s voice was much breathier than she would have liked to sound in this situation, her panting almost covering the soft click as something latched around her neck.

And just like that, it felt like the Force dropped from her all over again. The agony of having what Rey now considered part of her very being - just _gone_. She drew a shuddering gasp as she clawed at her neck, speechlessly looking up at the guilt-ridden face of Kylo Ren as he quickly moved away from her, scooping up his mask as he headed toward the door.

“What did you DO to me?”

“I made sure you’re safe - I really am sorry, though, I know it’s not… Pleasant. We’ll take care of this later, but I can't risk you exposing us right now. I'm going to work for a while, so you just stay here, stay quiet, and we’ll figure this out together, ok?”

“This - _this_ is NOT ok!” Rey screamed as he swiftly pulled the door shut, triggering several locking mechanisms, leaving her alone, terrified, and desperate.

This day couldn’t possibly get worse.

  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That couldn't possibly have gone better.

Kylo smiled as he shut and locked the door behind him, shoving his Ubeshian mask back on his head. Rey! Here! In the flesh! Safe and locked in his room - he really couldn't pat himself on the back more for this marvelous accomplishment.

Sure, this was all probably all due to his mother’s machinations. And he still had to hide and work in squalor until he could figure out a better plan. And, certainly, Rey seemed slightly upset - but she’d see reason! In this moment, Kylo was thoroughly glad that his mask was covering his stupid grin. He needed more to drink. The genuine joy he felt in this moment was just a bit too real of an emotion, he was cutting it close enough to exposing himself by having Rey around. It was a good thing he hadn't completely destroyed that Force collar when it failed to mask his presence - it was enough to hide Rey for now, but once she saw reason and allowed him to properly train her… the possibilities were endless.

“Hey, kid - what were you doing?”

_Speaking of reasons to be grateful for a mask_ … “ _Nothing_.” Kylo replied shortly to his truly ancient Togruta boss, the eponymous Fulcrum.

“Where did you drag that girl off to?” she questioned with a raised brow.

“ _Nowhere_.”

Fulcrum rolled her eyes, disappearing down a back hallway with an armful of boxes. Kylo strode out to the floor, lifted another handle from behind the bar, and headed toward the front door.

It was going to be a good night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This was the worst night in recent memory.

Initially, Rey tried to give this situation the Jedi approach. She had breathed deeply, meditated, focused, tried to calm herself - but ended up taking an hourlong angry nap instead. And now she was furious.

Rey gave the door to Kylo’s room yet another fruitless kick, succeeding only in stubbing her toe quite hard. She was stuck, her fists ached from beating on the surprisingly well-enforced door, the _Falcon’s_ navcomputer had been lost in the shuffle out in the bar, Artoo seemed to have disappeared, she couldn’t tap into the Force at _all_ … The list went on and on.

She exhaled slowly. This needed to be approached rationally. She needed to calm down again and think -

Nope.

With a rage seemingly out of nowhere, she lowered her shoulder and charged the door. WHAM. It felt as solid as ever, but she swore she heard something move within the door. She lowered herself into a crouch, squinted her eyes, and again charged as fast as she could given the tiny room’s dimensions -

WHOMPH.

Instead of the resistance of a cold durasteel door, she charged straight into a considerably softer body.

“Oh - oh no, I’m so sorry!” Rey stammered, pulling herself up.

“It’s all right, I’ve suffered worse - though I’m not as young as I used to be…” It was the Togruta bartender Rey had seen earlier. Now she felt even worse for slamming into this poor woman, since she was clearly old enough to be her grandmother.

Rey immediately scrambled to her feet, offering both her arms to the Togruta to help her up. The woman smiled, taking Rey’s hand with surprising strength to pull herself up.

“Thank you, little one. I came back here to see what _Nab_ was hiding… Idiot thought that if he locked his door with two different holochron mechanisms, no one would be able to get in.”

“Holochron?” Luke had plenty of those - though Rey had never been able to look at them. “You mean, he used the Force to lock me in?”

“He didn’t just use the Force, he used the dark side - _and_ the light. It’s a good trick - for pretty much anyone but me.” she replied with a surprisingly cocky smile for a woman her age.

“You can - just who are you?”

“Most people just call me Fulcrum. But you…” she had a twinkle in her eyes as she offered her hand. “ _You_ can call me Soka.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This night just kept going _fantastically_.

By this late hour, most customers had made their way home. Kylo was done with his job at the door, and had just rounded up the usual crowd, taking over the pazaak table. He had let his drunkenness fall to a mild buzz instead of the typical full-on staggering drunk he typically attempted to maintain - but the knowledge that Rey was safely locked in his room, and the fact that it had been days since he had felt Snoke make a real effort to find out where he was made Kylo feel a bit more secure.

Plus - drunk? He’d come out a couple hundred credits up. Mostly sober? He was going to clean the table tonight.

They had gone a few hands in blissful relative silence, when suddenly he heard from across the table - “‘Ey, Nab - I sent a pretty little thing your way earlier today, did she find you?”

Kylo glared up at the Dug - Fulgo? Mulgo? Bulgo. Whatever. “ _I named my price. She couldn’t pay up._ ”

“Ah, yes, of course.” Bulgo signaled toward the bar, a smile slowly creeping across his face. “Pity you couldn’t work out some other kind of deal with her, no? I’m sure she’ll find a way to make the money by the end of the night. One way or another.”

Just as Kylo bristled with the implication of those words, a voice came from beside him-

“Oh - hello, Mr. Bulgo. What do you - I mean, how may I serve you? My apologies, I’m still pretty new to this.”

Kylo about fell out of his chair.

Rey. Rey with her hair down. Rey clearly having undergone a makeover from someone who knew what they were doing. Rey wearing a practically transparent turquoise top and pants. Rey with her tiny waist and most of her back exposed. Rey in the thinnest gold chains that only seemed to accentuate the collar he had put around her neck. Rey, _not safe in his room_.

Rey, who very obviously had just been staring at him, darting her beautiful eyes away as crimson bloomed across her cheeks.

Kylo honestly didn’t know if he should be furious or turned on.

Apparently, while Kylo had been mentally cataloguing the many, _many_ reasons he was going to have to find a better way to hide Rey, the other players at the table had placed a massive drink order, which Rey was struggling to write down.

Folding his cards and quickly rising, Kylo placed his hand on the small of Rey’s very-much-exposed back. “ _Allow me to assist._ ” he growled out as he steered Rey toward the bar and away from the leering onlookers.

“Hold on, I’m still -”

“ _I know what these nerf herders order. **We** need to talk._ ”   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rey was not someone used to being touched, much less being propelled forward by a clearly felt hand that she could not stop thinking of. Kylo’s warm, gloved hand across her back had startled the righteous indignation right out of her. Rey found herself directed behind the bar with Kylo, who started to line up glasses. “ _Here, make yourself useful and start putting ice in these._ ”

Rey complied, looking confused. “You’re… Not mad?”

“ _Oh no. I’m **furious**. But not really with you. ‘Fulcrum’ has a lot of explaining to do. I had my suspicions about her, and she’s just gone and confirmed all of them. Still, you’re an idiot for leaving where you were perfectly safe, and you should have better sense than to lower yourself to… **This**._ ” Kylo gestured to all of Rey with a bottle of vodka.

Reddening, Rey had to stop herself from throwing the ice scoop at Kylo’s dumb head, which was unfortunately still well-protected by his helmet. “Well it’s not as if I’ve been given much of a choice here! I come here looking for help, of _course_ it turns out to be _you_ , then you lock me in your room like some pervert, and it seems that if I want to get the _Falcon_ repaired, pay off its docking debts, and get away from this horrible swamp, I need to earn those credits _somehow_!”

“ _How much?_ ”

Rey was taken aback by the immediate reply to her tirade. “Huh?”

“ _How did my f- how much is owed on the Falcon?_ ”

“Um, 19,000. They initially tried to tell me I wouldn’t be able to pay in my own name and owed 30,000, but we… Came to an agreement.”

Kylo waved the bottle of vodka dismissively. “ _Consider it paid, that’s positively pocket change compared to most of what I’ve been working off around here_.”

His cavalier attitude toward that sum of money threw Rey for a second. Her hand paused as she pushed the last glass toward him. “What do you mean?”

Kylo snorted, a strange sound through the Ubeshian mask. “ _Do you think I’m on this - how did you put it, ‘ **horrible** **swamp** ’ - by accident? It’s a decent place to hide, but I had other reasons._” he started to pour into the eight glasses, just past where Rey had filled them with ice.

Rey took a moment to admire his efficiency as he dumped the contents of several other bottles across the eight glasses, hand not wavering for a second. “Well why _are_ you here, then? You know why I’m here.”

Kylo inspected a bottle he had been pouring from, shrugged, then ripped off the spout. “ _Why is anyone ever on Nal Hutta? To pay off debts._ ”

“And…just what debts are those?” Rey asked timidly as she placed the drinks on a tray.

Kylo had now pushed his helmet back from his head, exposing his face so that he could lock eyes with Rey. The shock of seeing him in person, looking so… _Normal_ had still not quite worn off. He fiddled with the rim of the bottle for a moment, as he carefully considered his next words. “I think you already know _exactly_ whose debt I’m paying. It’ll… It will never be enough.” Kylo tipped his head back, downing the contents of the bottle - which was still fairly full.

Oh. _Oh_. He _had_ said everything was different, but this was hardly the behavior Rey expected from the dreaded Kylo Ren. Even after the last few weeks of drunken-mess-Kylo-Ren, Rey had assumed he was completely trying to ignore anything having to do with his father, but evidently, Kylo had chosen to pay for his sins in the most literal way possible - clearing Han Solo’s name and debts.

Meanwhile, the man had yet to quit drinking. Rey tried desperately not to be distracted by particular the way Kylo’s throat bobbed and strained as he chugged back the alcohol at a truly alarming rate. “Stars, you’re going to kill yourself!” she slapped at his arm, trying to cut him off.

Kylo spluttered, pushing Rey away. “You can’t leave vodka open, it goes bad. Besides, why would you care?”

“B-because… Oh...” Rey swayed on her feet as the room suddenly seemed to be repeatedly twisting a little, just around the edges of her vision. She took an unsteady step toward Kylo, snatching the bottle from his hand. Apparently, even with the Force-suppressing collar on, she was still a victim of whatever Kylo’s brain was going through, which struck Rey as horribly unfair. This… _Tipsiness_ also seemed far more concentrated than usual, so perhaps their proximity was affecting them as well.

“ _Because_ I’ve had enough of dealing with your side effects and not even getting to have any _fun_.” Rey declared with an uncharacteristic pout as she tipped the bottle back dramatically, took an enthusiastic gulp, then proceeded to choke and cough as the vodka burned its way down her throat. “What the - _how_ do you just _drink_ that?”

With a slow smile that suited him, Kylo plucked the bottle from Rey’s wavering hand, steadying her with a firm, warm hand on her waist. “Years of practice. And you’re a complete lightweight, from the looks of it - I bet you’re barely even legal to drink.” he chuckled as he braced her against his side.

“I’m nineteen, I’m perfectly mature enough to handle anything-”

“ _Nineteen_?!” Kylo removed his hand from Rey’s side as though it had burned him. “That’s… Not what I…” he stared at her for a second, then tipped back the remaining contents of the vodka, the look on his face implying that it clearly wasn’t enough to mask whatever just crossed his mind. “Maker help me, _nineteen_ …”

Affronted by this reaction - there’s no _way_ he could be that much older than her - Rey sniffed primly, “That’s right, and I know quite well how to take care of myself by now, so if you’ll hand me that tray of drinks, I’ll be on my way!”

“You’re nineteen. You don’t know _anything_.” Kylo muttered under his breath as he picked up the tray, jammed his helmet back on his head, then stomped toward the pazaak table.

Rey was about to follow after him, and _really_ give him a piece of her mind when she found herself with customers at the bar. Fortunately, their orders were simple, since Rey didn’t have the faintest idea about how to make the sorts of things she saw Kylo pouring.

“Hey, miss - fancy jo- _hic_ -joining me a little later?”

A finely-dressed young human - he couldn’t have been more than a year or so older than Rey, but his clothes looked as though they cost as much as what was owed on the _Falcon_ \- was leaning heavily on the bar, clearly inebriated. His eyes were drooped mostly shut, but acutely focused on Rey. He had somehow grasped her wrist as she set down his glass, and was slowly rubbing the inside of it in a way that shouldn’t have made Rey’s skin crawl, but it did.

“I’m sorry?”

“M’name’s Lain, Lain Bissklon. Ask anyone here, I’m - _hic_ \- I’m good for the money. My dad owns a dealership. Though I’ve got some - _hic_ \- some requests. I might need to speak to your h- _hic_ -handler.”

“ _Excuse_ me?”

“Oh, so h- _hic_ -he does have you on a tight chain, huh? Can’t even negotiate your own price?”

  
Somehow, Rey hadn’t noticed when the Lain’s fingers had drifted to the literal chain connecting the pieces of her top, allowing him to use it to slowly pull her neck across the bar and toward him.

“That’s ok, sw- _hic_ -sweetcheeks, I’ll take care of everything.” Lain whispered as his fingers drifted across her collarbones, dipping down to the low hemline of her shirt.

Rey was absolutely stunned. While she had received plenty of similar propositions on Jakku, she was always an arm’s and staff’s length from any potential suitors, and always in a crowded, dusty marketplace. No one cared how she retaliated to these unwanted advances - most of those who pursued her learned quickly just how well she wielded her weapon. Here? She was in an upscale, public environment, and in a situation where she didn’t want to face humiliation, or risk losing her job that was only given to her out of pity and charity in the first place.

Fortunately, someone else had no such reservations.

SLAM.

“ _Is there a problem here?_ ”

Like a massive, looming shriek-hawk, Kylo had swept in, smashing his fist on top of Lain’s hand that was had been attempting to pull her shirt down. Unfortunately, Lain had still been holding the chain connected to Rey’s neck, which made her knock her head on the bartop as the chain dragged her forward. Kylo let up his grip enough to get Rey’s chain out of Lain’s grasp, then used his other hand to begin pulling Lain’s fingers backwards at what had to be an extremely painful angle. Kylo somehow managed to do this with casual enough body language that it didn’t alarm the other patrons, even as Rey could practically feel fury pouring off him in waves.

“N-no s- _hic_ -sir, in fact, I think you’re exactly who I need to talk to - h- _hic_ -how about we set ourselves up an agreement for this evening?” A sheen of sweat had quickly formed across Lain’s forehead as he flinched away from the abuse of his fingers.

Apparently taking no interest in the man’s proposition, Kylo seemed entirely focused on using as little effort as possible to pull Lain’s fingers back without breaking them.

“ _Are you alright?_ ” Kylo calmly directed toward Rey as Lain’s pained gasps grew in volume, his fingers clearly on the very edge of snapping.

“I’m fine now…” Rey grumbled, rubbing at her head. There was definitely going to be a bruise there in the morning.

“P-please! I barely even -  _hic -_  I would have come straight to you had I known-”

“ _Had you known **what**?_ ” Kylo bit out with an eerie calm. He still wasn’t even facing Lain, as though he was unworthy of Kylo’s full attention.

“That you’re her - er - manager? Isn’t - **hic** \- isn’t that the word you use now? I’ll pay double what you normally ch- _hic_ -charge if she keeps the chains on and you let me finish inside her-”

Kylo’s helmet finally turned to face the cowering, trembling drunk man. Rey almost felt sorry for the him in this moment. Almost.

“ _She’s_.”

CRACK.

“ _Not_.”

CRACK

“ _For_ _sale_.”

CRACK. CRACK.

An anguished scream issued from Lain as Kylo released his hand, now complete with four fingers each bent at an unnatural angle.

“ _Leave_. **_Now_**.”

Lain Bissklon evidently didn’t need to be told twice. He clutched his mangled hand as he staggered away, tripping all over himself and falling down several times.

“ _Are you sure you’re all right? I could sense… I could tell you were distressed._ ”

“I’ve been better. At least he didn’t go any further.” Rey replied with a shudder.

Kylo froze. “ _Did he… He **touched** you._ ”

“It’s fine, he barely got a grope in before you-”

CRACK.

Kylo stood unmoved as Rey heard a now familiar shriek issue from Lain Bisskon, who evidently hadn’t gotten far away enough to escape Kylo’s wrath, whose Force powers were evidently breaking through the drunken haze he had kept them in - but this time, the screaming didn’t stop.

“ _He touched you. He made you upset._ ”

The screams grew louder and more desperate. The few remaining patrons had steered clear of Lain as he writhed on the ground for seemingly no reason.

“Gods, Kylo, stop! Besides, it’s not like _you_ haven’t… Taken liberties with me!”

Kylo had frozen. Rey covered her mouth as she realized she had said his name aloud, but fortunately, none of the customers were looking their way, since their attention had been focused on Lain, whose screams stopped abruptly as he made a desperate scramble for the door.

“ _...That’s different. I’ve never-_ ”

Rey looked around, and fortunately, they were still not the focus of anyone’s attention. Still, she kept her voice to a fierce whisper. “You’ve kidnapped me - _twice_ , I might add, put this damned collar on me, pulled me into whatever weird drama you’ve got going on in your head, locked me in your room - you don’t get to act all noble here!”

Kylo clutched his fists, clearly frustrated. “ _I’ve already apologized for my actions in the past - but everything I’ve done today has been to **protect** you!_ ”

“I don’t need your protection! I just have to get the credits I need to get away from this horrible place - to get away from _you_!”

“ _I already told you, I’ll pay the fines. It’s not your position to have to deal with that._ ”

“Where I come from, everything had a price. Nothing was ever free. I refuse to accept your… Your _charity_. I’m going to work it off.” Rey snarled.

Kylo clutched at the edge of his helmet, clearly having to stop himself from ripping it off. “ _By doing what? Waiting tables here isn’t going to ever get the credits you need. Were you seriously going to **sell** yourself?_ ”

The look of mixed horror and revulsion that Rey gave to Kylo answered that question. He sighed, frustrated.

“ _Look, how about… A trade? Surely a scavenger like yourself can see the appeal._ ”

Rey glanced up at his blank mask, unable to get a sense of where this was going. “What are your terms?”

“ _I’ll pay off the fines on the Falcon. Repair the navcomputer. Remove your collar, get you back on your way back to your precious Resistance._ ”

It was everything she needed - and way too good to be true. Rey was almost horrified to ask - “And in exchange, what you want from me…?”

Kylo folded his arms, resolute. “ _You stay here for a week, and let me teach you._ ”

 

 

**Next time, on Arrested Development:**

> _Michael: Hey, are you scared of a monster?_   
>  _George Michael: Kind of._   
>  _Narrator: It was the monster called lust, to which he had recently succumbed._
> 
> _-Arrested Development, Season 3, Episode 13 - “Development Arrested”_

 

YOU'D BEST BELIEVE THIS IS ABOUT TO GET SMUTTY


End file.
